


The Judge Steps Out 2020 A Due South Novel Part II

by FancyFree2813



Category: due South
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:01:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 72,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27047647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FancyFree2813/pseuds/FancyFree2813
Summary: Everyone suffers after Renfield’s decision to take an undercover assignment, primarily Kerri and Ray, and of course Renfield. Slightly over a year after Renfield returned from his ordeal and Kerri ran away to Edmonton, Renfield, now an RCMP Corporal returns to Chicago to seek the forgiveness of his friends. Then he makes a fateful trip to Edmonton that will forever change all of their lives. Renfield and Kerri suffer through panic attacks, a huge embezzlement scandal, being hunted by the paparazzi, and an international press conference. And if that wasn't enough - Renfield is bitten by a bug - the DIY home improvement bug.
Relationships: Renfield Turnbull/Kerri
Comments: 3
Kudos: 1





	The Judge Steps Out 2020 A Due South Novel Part II

**Author's Note:**

> This is the 2020 addition to the original story. Chapters 9-22.

**And now on to the 2020 addition**

Chapter 9

In the end Kerri chose not to choose. After all that had happened she knew the only way to maintain her sanity was to get as far away from this place as possible. So on a rainy Monday morning she called her new employee, Kristin, to the back of the empty shop and told her.

“I’ve decided to close the shop,” she hesitated while gathering her resolve, “permanently.” 

“Oh, Kerri! Please don’t do this! We can work something out – you can work something out!” She didn’t mind for herself, so much, but she had learned just how much Kerri loved this place and how much a part of her life the bookshop was. “If it’s Renfield or Ray you can avoid them. Just pretend they don’t exist. Please don’t let them drive you out!”

Kerri was in no mood to argue, and certainly in no mood to discuss her love, or lack of love, life with someone she barely knew. She sighed. “The end of the month will be our last day. I’ve given this a great deal of thought and I’ve decided.”

When Kristin opened her mouth to object Kerri hurried on “it’s not open for debate. I’ve decided.”

“Are you going to sell, or lease or what are you going to do with the shop?” Kristin asked, hoping maybe she could keep her job with a different employer.

Kerri shrugged her shoulders. “Renfield owns it, he’ll have to decide.”

She was about to walk away when Kristin asked, “does he know you’re closing? Could I ask him?”

Kerri lost her patience. “I have no idea what Renfield knows! I’ll write you a reference and you can do as you wish.” Kerri turned on her heel and hurried up the stairs. She barely made it to the top step before she burst into tears.

And so, come the end of the month Kerri hung the closed sign in the window for the last time. She had her bags but left everything else as it was, behind her as she the locked door. Whatever happened next to her beloved bookshop Kerri didn’t know – and if asked would claim she didn’t care.

She’d sent the renters of her Edmonton house an eviction notice – giving them 30 days to move out so that she could move in, which meant she would have to spend one or two nights in a hotel before she could move back to her teenaged home. She’d never liked the house. By the time they’d moved there her mother was dead and her father had gotten very eccentric, if that was the proper word for someone who was borderline psychotic.

After she left and her father moved to Idaho she’d kept a succession of renters in the house. No one stayed long and never did any basic maintenance so Kerri knew she’d have a lot to keep her occupied getting the house up to snuff. But she was not prepared for the shock when she when she saw it for the first time. The garden hadn’t greened up yet and the flower beds were full of weeds, but what really shocked her was the state of the exterior paint.

Since she didn’t currently have any income she knew she’d have to wait a while to get it painted, and she’d probably have to do it herself. She wasn’t looking forward to that, but she’d think about later.

Once she climbed the steps to the front door she suddenly became so overwhelmed with the weight of her decision to leave Chicago she found it hard to breathe. She’d only been gone a few days but she already missed Meg and Benton. She chose not to think about anyone else. She squared her shoulders and decided to think about that later too.

Opening the front door gave her the shock of her life. The place was a disaster! “Oh my God!” she muttered. The renters had moved everything except their trash – which was currently strewn across every horizontal surface for as far as her eye could see and stunk to high heaven. She’d have to find a job soon because it was going to cost her hundreds of dollars and be more work than she could ever do by herself to even get the house livable.

She needn’t have worried about finding a job. With her reference from Walter Scott and her experience owning and operating her own business several firms offered her interviews for positions in their accounting departments. In the end she found one only a few miles from her house that she found at least a little interesting. So, about 2 weeks after arriving in Edmonton Kerri started her new job.

Over the next weeks and months Kerri drudged away at a very mundane job and worked non-stop at getting the house back to a habitable state. About 2 months into her drudgery she decided that the sooner she got the house done the sooner she could sell it. This sort of work – the house renovation kind of work – just was not for her. She’d decided to sell the house and buy a modern apartment in downtown.

Anyone who knew her well would have seen that she was trying to reinvent herself – leaving all vestiges of her recent past behind her. She wouldn’t have admitted that, though. And there was no one here who knew her well, anyway.

She contacted or was contacted by Meg from time to time. Usually in text messages or email that were just general chit chat and never anything specific. The longer she lived in Edmonton the less she contacted Meg. Not only was she trying to reinvent herself but she was distancing herself from all of the friends she had in Chicago – and not making new ones here. She was succeeding in isolating herself from the rest of the world. But to her mind she was just moving on.

After almost a year of living in a construction zone and working at a job that got more and more worrisome Kerri had very little to show for her time. Her house still needed paint and the work inside wasn’t going nearly as fast as she’d hoped. She barely spoke to the people in her office and had made no friends outside of work. She had reinvented herself all right – right into an overworked and friendless woman.

Chapter 10

**Thursday ******

********

********

Corporal Renfield Turnbull left his rental car at the curb in front of the Chicago Canadian Consulate. He walked briskly down the sidewalk and up the steps to the front door. Once at the top of the steps he paused briefly and turned to survey the sights he had stared at so many times while standing sentry duty. He grimaced at the memories of standing hours on end in the humid heat or freezing cold. He couldn’t help but remember the time he had saved Maria Sanchez from being hit by a speeding car while being unable to save himself. Or another time when Maria had been kidnapped right under his nose. To his mind he had failed to save her that time. He’d been laughed at often while standing stock still but it never made him angry. He was just proud to wear the uniform.

Proud of his uniform then and proud now. Back then the uniform was most always red serge and now, well now the uniform was more casual – just a grey shirt, dark blue slacks and a peaked cap with the telltale wide yellow hat band. Today, of course the uniform had stayed at home in Fraser Lake and he wore regular civilian clothes. He felt rather odd coming to see them in anything other than his Review Order uniform, but he was on a holiday of sorts and civilian clothes were in order.

He walked into the consulate, just slightly more than a year after he’d left, not knowing exactly what to expect. He knew Inspector Thatcher and Constable Fraser would be there because they were expecting him. He just wasn’t sure how he would be received.

A constable he did not know greeted him from what had once been his desk. “Welcome to Canada –” the young woman started her spiel before being interrupted by her superior.

“That’s enough Constable,” Margaret said to the yet unnamed woman at the desk prior to turning to Renfield. “Corporal! It’s so good to see you!” Renfield was immensely relieved to know that he was indeed welcome.

Margaret was all smiles as she took him by the arm and led him into her office and closed the door behind them. “Well, let me take a look at you,” she said as she studied the man who, up until a couple of years ago had been ‘her constable’. “You look very good!” She frowned just slightly as she noticed that he had aged dramatically and his demeanor had changed quite a bit. “The great white north seems to agree with you, but we certainly do miss you around here! How is your first command? Do you like the village? Still lots of snow? I’ve been thinking about coming to see you in your new surroundings – Lord I must be blithering!”

Renfield smiled broadly at her questions. He had been so worried that she would be unforgiving or at the very least unfriendly. But obviously that was not the case.

“Please have a seat and tell me everything!” Margaret ordered as she sat behind her desk.

Renfield settled in a chair across from her, thinking that this was one of the very few times he had ever been seated in this office. Ordinarily he would have stood as she barked orders at him, or even more likely stood as he received a justly deserved dressing down.

“Well,” he began, “I think I did the right thing when I accepted Fraser Lake. When I received my promotion and was offered a small detachment I was rather ambivalent. But I guess you remember that.” He looked at her as she nodded. “Commissioner Whittle insisted that I take the promotion even though I didn’t think I deserved it –"

“Of course you did! Look at all you did, all you gave up,” boy she wished she hadn’t said that. She hurried on, “all you did for your country.”

“Well, anyway Fraser Lake has been very good for me.” His smile faded away as he continued, “I think I might have lost my sanity if I’d stayed here…”

Margaret was about to interrupt when there was a knock at her door and Constable Fraser poked his head in.

He spotted Turnbull and didn’t wait for Margaret to ask him in. He was across the room in two strides and grabbed the hand of the man who stood to offer it. “Turnbull! Sorry – Corporal Turnbull,” he laughed. “It is so good to see you! Belated congratulations on your promotion!”

“Sit! Both of you,” Margaret continued. “Renfield has just be telling me about his detachment.”

“The village is small and pretty isolated. Don’t have to worry too much about crime so my time is pretty much my own. We do get our fair share of tourists in the summer, what with the lake and all.”

There were so many questions they wanted to ask him, so many things that they wanted to say but neither Margaret nor Ben really knew how to start.

Renfield looked at both of them and began to answer their unspoken questions. “I guess you knew that I had been drinking pretty heavily before I left Chicago. Coming back and finding things so different than when I left, all of the things I went through…Well I guess I didn’t handle it well.” As with so many things in my life, he thought. He stopped for just a moment to recover his train of thought.

“The promotion, the new detachment, being away from here helped me in a great number of ways. I met a guy, George Inouye who’s a retired psychologist, and he helped me with most of the rest. He let me talk, asked all the right questions and then gave me, I don’t know, perspective I guess.”

After a few moments he continued, “one of the few things that I still haven’t been able to come to terms with is the way I failed.” He looked pointedly at Fraser. “The one thing I really regret is failing to do my duty. I wanted so much to –"

“Wait just a darn minute!” Margaret interrupted. “What do you mean you failed! Cons, ah Corporal I know that you are aware of all the things you did. Walter Scott told you – Ben and I were in the room when he listed your accomplishments while undercover!”

“I don’t remember any of that,” Renfield whispered.

“Well I do –"

“As do I,” Fraser interrupted. “Even though you were discovered and, well all the rest the information you were able to pass to your local contact saved countless lives –"

“Both north and south of the border!” Margaret interrupted right back at him. “Renfield there are countless children who won’t have access to a flood of drugs directly or indirectly because of you!” Ah! she thought, that got through to him!

“I didn’t know…”

“Because to your mind, clouded with both physical and emotional pain, you failed. But you did not Renfield. After all this time you have got to accept the fact that what you did, surviving undercover for as long as you did, makes you a hero. By any definition of the word.”

As Renfield absorbed the meaning of Fraser’s words both Fraser and Margaret could not help but see him sit just a little taller.

Margaret and Fraser sat for a long time listening to Renfield regale them with stories of the people and the town that sat almost smack in the middle of British Colombia. There was a lot of unemployment there and the large grocery store, the only one in town, had recently closed. He knew of a couple of men who had to hitch hike to the nearest town for a Costco run. But the people were resilient and loved their little community. The crime rate was almost non-existent but there were a few drunken fights, though they were few and far between. The town even had a festival during the summer called Mouse Mountain Days – named appropriately enough for Mouse Mountain just a few kilometers out of town.

As they chuckled at Renfield’s stories both of them realized how much he had matured. Gone was any vestige of the goofy Mountie that they had known even after he’d gotten married. He was calmer, much less easy to fluster and seemed comfortable in his own skin. There was still a sadness that clung to him and they were both pretty sure what, or more precisely who, caused that.

They chatted away for most of the rest of the day before Renfield finally brought up why he had come to Chicago. “George and I have become good friends and he pretty much insisted that it was about time that I came back here. And I realized he was right. I needed to know that you, both of you, understand why I did the things I did. Why I needed to leave, and that it was the right thing for me to do. But talking to you this afternoon has truly shown me that everything is good. I hope that I can still call you my friends?”

Margaret was around her desk in a shot. She drew him into a huge hug and held on far passed the time that decorum would dictate. Once she had sufficiently embarrassed herself she drew back and adjusted her suit jacket. Then she cleared her throat self-consciously. “Does that answer your question, Corporal?”

All three of them laughed as Fraser gave his friend the second hearty handshake of the day. “You have obviously survived a horrendous situation and come out the other side better for it, my friend.”

They saw him to the door and waved as he climbed into the car and drove away. “Damn!”

Fraser looked at her askance. “What? Why?”

“I wanted so much to ask him about Kerri! Did you notice he didn’t mention her once?”

“I noticed he carefully avoided any mention of her name, yes.” Fraser sighed, “but I also noticed he never mentioned Ray either.”

“Damn.”

“Exactly.”

For his second stop of the day Renfield parked his rental car in front of the building he knew very well – the apartment building of Ray Kowalski. At least it used to be, Renfield had no way of knowing if Ray still lived there.

Once inside the exterior doors of the building he had to stop to catch his breath, having forgotten to breathe as the happy memories overwhelmed him. He’d forgotten for a time, a very long time, how much he had enjoyed his friendship with Ray. He was deeply saddened as he remembered he had willingly walked away from that friendship.

Scanning the bank of mailboxes on the right of the hall leading to the stairs he was relieved to discover that Ray did indeed still live here. And given the relative lateness of the hour he was pretty sure his former friend would be home.

He climbed the stairs rather slowly allowing himself time to screw up his courage for the task that awaited him. The difference between this meeting and the one at the Consulate was one very important thing. Margaret and Benton knew he was coming – Ray did not. The memories of this place bore heavily on him as he knocked on the familiar door.

He heard movement inside and then a voice he knew all too well called out. “Hold on a sec.”

A few seconds later the door was snatched open and Renfield came face to face with Ray – for the first time since he was in the ER after Ray had punched him in an Ottawa hotel room, at least a lifetime ago.

“Hello Ray,” Renfield said to the stunned man who had answered the door.

After a few seconds Ray found his voice. “Hiya.”

A few more seconds passed before Renfield finally said, “Uh, could I come in? I’d like to speak with you a moment.” He hesitated in the doorway waiting for Ray to either invite him in – or slam the door in his face. He hoped Ray wouldn’t hit him.

Ray was so shocked that he couldn’t really for m any words. He just pulled the door farther open and stepped aside.

Renfield walked into the room he’d been in hundreds of times realizing that nothing had changed. He even wondered briefly if the clothes strewn on the floor were the same clothes that were there the last time he was here – more than two years ago. He turned to face Ray just as the other man brushed passed him and plopped himself down in his ratty old chair. Renfield followed him only with his eyes. He remained standing in the entryway.

“You comin’ the rest of a the way in?”

“I wasn’t sure I’d be welcome…”

“I let ya in didn’t I? Come in and sit,” Ray ordered. He could barely admit it to himself but he was almost glad to see Turnbull. If he could admit it to himself.

Renfield perched on the edge of the nearest chair. “I don’t need but a minute of your time,” he started. “I just need to say a few things…” he was suddenly at a loss for words.

Apparently Ray was getting impatient to hear what had brought Turnbull all this way. “Well?”

“I came to say, that is I wanted you to know…”

“Thought you said this was only gonna take a minute.” Ray said impatiently.

“Sorry,” Renfield muttered. “I came to say I’m sorry and to try to explain why.

“Why what?”

Renfield sighed. He had hoped that this might be easier. Well, at least the door hadn’t been slammed in his face.

“I’m sorry that what I did hurt so many people…hurt you.”

Ray studied the man sitting across from him. He had aged, but then again who hadn’t?

“I never meant for that to happen, you know?” Renfield continued. “It seems that I am very good at doing things that have unintended consequences,” he muttered. Then he looked directly at Ray. “I tried to explain to them that there must have been someone more qualified, there must have been someone who was trained to…” he hesitated again, “but they said ‘no’ I was their choice. It made me rather proud, you know? To be chosen out of hundreds? I didn’t know what would happen! I didn’t know they only wanted me because of René!”

That got Ray’s undivided attention. He hadn’t known…

“I got in so far over my head, but I tried,” his voice broke. “I was doing okay though. I could have made the couple of months they promised me. Just thinking about Ker – just thinking about all I had to come home for. I could have done it!” He was so adamant Ray was shocked. “But then I met the boss. He’d known René and assumed I was as evil as he had been. Then my fate was sealed and I ended up in Colombia.” By now his words had trailed off and he had become deathly pale.

Ray jumped up from his chair and ran to the kitchen. After a few seconds he came back with two huge shots of bourbon.

“I think we both need this.”

“Thank you,” Renfield said as he took the glass and downed the entire contents. Ray did the same before he even sat back down.

“It was rough,” Ray said matter-of-factly.

Renfield smiled just slightly. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“You gettin’ help, up there in the Northwest Areas?” Ray was trying very, very hard not to remember all that had happened in the time they all thought Turnbull was dead.

This time Renfield’s smile was a little bigger. “My detachment is in Fraser Lake, BC, Ray. Not quite as far north as you’re thinking. The village is very small, but yes, I’m getting help. There’s a retired psychologist in town and I have been meeting with him. He’s a big part of the reason I’m here.”

“How’s that?”

“When I accepted the transfer I left,” again he hesitated, “I left so many things unsettled.

Both of them remained quiet for a few minutes.

Finally, Renfield felt it was necessary for him to go. He stood and was about to thank Ray for seeing him when Ray asked if he wanted another drink. Smiling, Renfield sat back down.

When Ray returned with their refills he took the time to clink glasses with Renfield and smile just slightly in his direction. This time they sipped their drinks, in silence.

After another few minutes Ray asked, “what do you do in that Fraser place?”

Renfield was thrilled to talk about something other than their shared past. “I have my own detachment”, he chuckled. “It’s very small, just me and one junior officer and a part-time assistant –"

“So yer the boss?” Ray was actually rather impressed,

“I received a promotion after…,” again he hesitated, “because of…after my return. It’s Corporal Turnbull now.”

Again Ray was impressed. “Congrats. You outrank Fraser now,” he found that very strange and more than a little amusing.

“I don’t look at it that way. Constable Fraser will always be my mentor. I will always look up to and admire him. Yet another reason I took the undercover assignment…” He found he was getting a little maudlin.

“You wanted to impress him?”

“Yeah, failed miserably on that one too,” Renfield admitted, more to himself than Ray. “I saw Fraser and Inspector Thatcher this afternoon. They seem to be the only ones unaffected by what I did.”

“Ya know, seems ta me ya need ta stop kickin’ yerself for tryin’ ta do yer duty.” Neither of them could believe he’d actually said that. It must be the effects of the bourbon that they both had the same thought at exactly the same time. Both men seemed to be feeling the effects of the alcohol and relaxing in kind.

The longer they sat, the longer they could not ignore the elephant in the room. They both were feeling comfortable enough in one another’s company to realize it was now time to bring up that subject.

“Seen her?” Ray asked quietly.

“No.”

“Gonna?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“I’m…”, again he hesitated, not sure how to answer. “I thought I might stop by Edmonton on my way home.”

“Whaddya gonna tell her?” Even Ray could tell he was getting a little drunk.

“I don’t know,” Renfield admitted.

Ray got to his feet and Renfield assumed he wanted him to leave. Renfield got to his feet also. “Nah, you sleep here. Ya’ve had too much ta drink ta drive.” He left the room briefly and returned with a blanket and pillow. “Sleep here.”

Ray left Renfield alone.

Renfield spent the rest of the night sitting on a very uncomfortable chair and thinking. Ray’s apartment looked exactly the same – yet he knew that at some point Kerri had lived here. He wasn’t at all sure how he felt about that.

He and George had talked at length about Kerri. How much Renfield loved her, how he had left her, twice, how she had suffered the first time but he had won her back, but the second time she had found comfort in the arms of another man, his best friend. Talking about it had helped him tremendously. To the point that he was able to come back to Chicago to seek – he didn’t know exactly what he was seeking. Understanding?

Chapter 11

**Friday ******

********

********

Ray awoke to the smell of coffee and something he’d not smelled in his apartment in a very long time – breakfast cooking. He’d fallen asleep fully clothed so it didn’t take long for him to stumble into his kitchen to find Turnbull cooking for him.

Renfield heard him stumble over something in the living room and turned to see a very disheveled police detective staring at him.

“I went out earlier and got some bacon and eggs. I didn’t care for the expiry date on what you had in the frig.”

“Expiry? That’s awfully Canadian isn’t it?”

“I am Canadian, Ray.”

“I think I heard that somewhere,” he muttered as he peered around Turnbull to look at the food cooking on his stove. He couldn’t remember the last time the stove was used for cooking anything edible – and then he remembered. The night before they found out Turnbull was still alive Kerri had cooked dinner for them. He sighed heavily.

Renfield knew that something had triggered a memory Ray had rather forget so he redirected Ray’s train of thought.

“Are you hungry?”

“Yeah. Looks good.”

Renfield loaded a pile of bacon and a couple of fried eggs onto a plate and handed it to Ray. Once they both had plates they sat at the tiny kitchen table and ate for a while in silence.

Finally, Ray said, “thanks. This is good.”

“Thanks for letting me stay here last night. You were right I did have more to drink than I’ve had in quite a while.”

“Probably in forever.”

“Actually no,” Renfield admitted. “After I got back from…after I got back I drank rather a lot.”

Ray stared at him, shocked but then again maybe not. “Better now?”

Renfield smiled perfunctorily. “Yes, much better. And better yet after last night. Thank you for listening to me.”

“You never did say what you’re gonna say to…to Kerri?” It was the first time that either one of them had said her name aloud. And it startled both of them.

“That’s because I really don’t know. George –"

“Yer shrink guy?”

“Yeah. He said that I need to lay it on the line with her. To tell her how I feel and let her decide what she wants to do. But I don’t know if I can do that. I hurt her, you, both of you so much I can’t see how she can ever forgive me.”

“Still love her?”

Even though he knew that it would hurt Ray he had to tell him the truth – and admit it to himself once again. He nodded his head at waited for Ray’s reaction. And waited. “I’m sorry.”

“So what else is new? You’ve always loved her,” Ray whispered.

“I just had a whole lot of trouble admitting it for a long while.”

“Well now ya have ‘n ya need to do something about it – sooner than later.” Ray hesitated.

Renfield could tell that Ray had something else on his mind. “Is there something else?”

Suddenly Renfield could tell Ray had made a momentous decision. “Yeah, I’ve got somethin’ else ta say.” Again he hesitated but Renfield waited patiently.

“I need ta,” he sighed and started again. “I gotta tell ya about her. I mean her ‘n me.”

Renfield could tell that Ray was having a great deal of trouble saying what he obviously needed to say. “If you think it’s going to hurt me please say it anyway. I’ve certainly done my fair share of hurting others.”

So Ray tried again. “When ya died – when we thought ya died Kerri completely fell apart. Well, we all did I guess. But she just, I dunno, just sorta lost herself. So I hung around ‘n we just sorta helped each other.” He looked straight at Turnbull to see his reaction, but there was none, so Ray hurried on before he lost his nerve. “I cared a bunch about her, ya know?” Looking directly into the other man’s eyes he did see a slight revelation of feeling. “I never told anyone – anyone! But I think I always cared about her. BUT after, after you were gone I NEVER did anything but watch out for her ‘n let her talk ‘n cry ‘n lose her temper ‘n blame God ‘n—” he stopped in midsentence to ensure he wasn’t hurting his former friend.

“I saw changes in her after you’d been gone for almost a year, but she still refused ta admit ya were dead. She didn’t know I knew, but I knew she slept with that damn stuffed toy wolf every night – every night! I think she pretended it was you. One year! A whole 365 before I got the nerve ta tell her, ta try ta make her say you were dead! I’d met her at the cemetery ‘n seen her cryin’ over ya one too many times ‘n so I lost it,” Ray had tears in his eyes but he had to go on. “I lost it,” he whispered.

“I told her,” again he hesitated. “I guess I yelled at her. I said you were dead ‘n I wasn’t ‘n I loved her. You left her but I didn’t,” he swiped at his eyes before the tears spilled down his cheeks. “All I got for my trouble was a pretty healthy smack on the kisser.” He stopped there, he couldn’t go on.

“She hit you?” Renfield couldn’t hide his shock.

“Yep. Shocked me too,” he chuckled sarcastically. “But one thing did happen – she finally admitted you were gone ‘n we sorta got together.” Ray didn’t elaborate, he figured Turnbull could draw his own conclusions on that one.

Renfield bypassed any conclusions, for the moment anyway. “Fraser took me to the cemetery back then. He told me that she went there every day and you were always there, either having taken her or followed her. He said you wanted to honor my memory.” Renfield inhaled deeply before he continued. “And I’d been…dead for a year before…before –"

“Before I made my move?”

“Please believe me, I never thought of it in that way. I realize now that I did blame Kerri. I was just so messed up, physically and emotionally. I had to keep our love perfect and unchanging in my mind’s eye. Toward the end, while I was held captive I forced myself to believe that when I got home, if I didn’t die first, everything would be the same as when I left. It’s the only way I could survive the whipping and torture. And after I was shot and left for dead I just sort of imagined Kerri as an angel who would come to take me to heaven.” Now it was his turn to have tears in his eyes.

“It took me almost a year of self-imposed exile to BC and meetings with George to heal enough to truly forgive her. Forgive her for not living up to my fantasy. To understand that it was me not her,” he looked at Ray, “or you who was wrong. The two of you did the healthy, natural thing. You grieved, you healed and you moved on. You did what I couldn’t do, you took care of her and you…loved her.”

Ray suddenly felt the weight he’d been carrying for over a year lift off his shoulders. He hadn’t even realized he’d been blaming himself for all that had happened since they’d first heard of Turnbull’s miraculous resurrection.

“I loved her a long time – but she never acknowledged it – ever! We’d only been together a few weeks when you came back.”

“You must have been pretty disappointed when you saw me standing in the doorway of that hotel room,” Renfield whispered.

Ray sat straight up. “No!” But instantly he realized now was the time for total honesty. “And yes,” he admitted. “The first coupla minutes I was thrilled ta see you. Then I realized…what all a that meant…’n I was…disappointed as you say. But actually I was pissed! But not that you were alive – never that. Just that how could a scrawny Chicago cop like me ever compete with the likes a you.”

Renfield was shocked. “I’m so sorry about how all of this has impacted you. You were always so good to us, both of us,” he whispered. “I just never meant…”

“What’s happened’s happened. But we, you ‘n me neither a us treated her right after you came back. What we did wasn’t right. Ya gotta try ta get her back! Ya gotta go to Edmonton and tell her all this stuff. If you can ever love her again the way ya used ta ya can’t let that die!” Ray wanted to bite his tongue. “Sorry, poor choice a words.”

“You’re right, you know?” Finally Renfield was ready to ask Ray something he would have never even considered a year ago. “Ray, do you think we can ever be friends again?”

Ray sat still and thought about that for a very long time – so long that Renfield began to regret having asked the question. But finally Ray answered.

“I think we’re working on that right now.”

Renfield left Ray’s apartment greatly encouraged. Exactly what he needed for his next stop.

After his meetings with his friends in Chicago Renfield boarded a plane. He told Ray that he thought he might stop by Edmonton on his way home and that was exactly what he was going to do. 

His plans didn’t go exactly as expected however, a two hour delay at O’Hare had him arriving at Edmonton International far too late to go by her house. So, he rented yet another car and reluctantly spent the night in a cut-rate airport hotel.

He tried his best but he just couldn’t sleep. He knew now that George had been right, seeking out his friends was the right thing to do. Seeing the Inspector and Fraser had been heartwarming and Ray, well seeing Ray had served to be cathartic. He could only pray that seeing Kerri would prove to be both.

Chapter 12

**Saturday ******

****

****

****

****

First thing Saturday morning Renfield parked the rental car in front of the house he remembered from another time – a time similar to this – a time that he had something to prove to her. He’d chased Kerri all the way from Chicago. He had almost made the worst mistake of his life – up to that point at least – and had rushed here to try to convince her of his love.

He sighed as he fought back memories of more recent mistakes he’d made. But he was here yet again to convince her, maybe not of his love, he was unsure if he would ever be able to do that, but at least of his reasons for what he’d done.

The house looked awful. It really needed paint. He’d thought that the last time he was here. He remembered thinking that he’d love to help her with that. Now, he was pretty sure she wouldn’t want anything from him, least of all help with painting her house. Before he could convince himself to get in the car and head back to the airport he hurried up the walk and up to the front door.

The door was open, a ragged screen door covering the opening. He knocked tenuously and stood there long enough to think it might be necessary to knock again. He had raised his hand to knock a second time when he heard her. “Coming.”

Just the sound of her voice threatened to wipe out his resolve. But he took a deep breath and waited for her to come from the back of the house.

She saw him just as she walked out of the kitchen – and stopped dead in her tracks. Just as with Ray two nights ago, Renfield was forced to speak first. “Hello, Kerri,” he said.

Just as with Ray two nights ago he was forced to ask, “may I come in? He hesitated, hoping for, well he didn’t really know what he was hoping for, but apparently he wasn’t going to get it.

Finally he asked again, “may I come in? I just have, have something I need to speak to you about. It will only take a minute?”

When Kerri still didn’t speak he opened the screen door and stepped into the room. And just as two nights before he stopped and stood in the entryway. Without the screen to obscure he view he could tell that she was breathing heavily, almost as if she couldn’t catch her breath.

“What do you want Renfield?” she finally asked.

“Could we sit, just for a moment?” He hadn’t intended for his tone to sound quite so pleading. It was only then that he noticed there was only one place to sit in the entire room. One of the few things he had liked about this small house was the large living area. He remembered that originally Kerri had furnished the room comfortably. But now the only furniture in the room was one old overstuffed chair and an end table with a tiny lamp. For both of them to sit at the same time presented a dilemma. But he spied a small table behind her in the kitchen and hurried to grab a chair and position it near the overstuffed one.

He sat on the kitchen chair and motioned for her to sit on the other.

Once seated she asked again, “what do you want?”

He was close enough to her now to see, really see her and what he saw made him profoundly sad. Her beautiful blonde hair had gone white at the temples and over her ears and her eyes mirrored the sorrow she had known over the last few years. She looked old, old and tired.

Realizing he was staring he finally began. “I need to tell you, I need to know you understand…”

He’d suddenly run out of words. What he said now was so terribly important and he was so afraid he would screw it up! But Kerri was listening so he had to continue. He reminded himself of what he and George had discussed and the things he had told Ray just a couple of days ago. “I’ve been meeting with a retired psychologist and he’s convinced me, that is we decided that I needed…I need to make sure that you understand…” words threatened to leave him. “I told Ra—"

“You saw Ray?” Kerri was shocked beyond any further words.

“I guess you could say that we sort of reconciled, I guess.”

“I’m so happy for you – both of you.” She suddenly frowned and with her fist pressed her chest right between her breasts.

“Are you okay? You don’t look –"

“I’m fine,” she snapped. “You were saying.” But she didn’t look fine and Renfield was becoming concerned.

“I’m not sorry I did what I did, but,” he frowned at Kerri again. She was moving around in her chair as if she were in a good deal of pain. “But I’m so very sorry that you and everyone else –"

“I need to get a drink of water. I’ll be right back.” He saw her stagger slightly and then disappear into the kitchen. Not a minute later he heard the sound of glass breaking.

He ran into the kitchen to find Kerri hunched over holding tightly to the sink trying desperately not to fall to the floor. “Kerri! What’s –"

“I can’t catch my breath. I can’t breathe. Please—" Renfield caught her before she fell.

He quickly carried her to the bedroom and laid her on the small bed. Within seconds he was on the phone, holding her wrist and trying to count.

“911. What is your emergency?”

“This is RCMP Corporal Turnbull. I need an ambulance at 217 Cedar Grove St Edmonton. Female patient. Chest pains, difficulty breathing, heart rate about 110.”

“BP?”

“I don’t have any equipment with me. Please hurry!"

“Is she conscious?”

“Yes.”

“Help is on the way Corporal. Hold on.”

As recently as two years ago Renfield would have panicked, or at the very least become inarticulate. But so much had happened over the last two years to change the man, to mature him.

He heard the ambulance about 2 minutes later and thanked God that Kerri lived in a big city where help was so much closer than what he had become accustomed to. The EMTs had her vital signs and hooked up to a heart monitor and oxygen within a couple of minutes and loaded her into the ambulance within 5.

It was barely 10 minutes later that they crashed through the doors of the ER and Kerri was rushed into the exam area. Only then could Renfield take the time to panic.

He should have known that she was ill! He yelled to himself. Certainly, his was a small village, but he’d been trained to recognize this sort of thing. He was just so damned concerned about his own feelings that he – If she died – God he could not even imagine a world without her. George had been helping him to refrain from blaming himself for all that had happened, but this –

After 30 minutes that seem to him to be a lifetime a young nurse interrupted his thoughts.

“Corporal? Dr Corbett would like to speak with you and your wife.”

The young woman led him into the exam area as his apprehension grew. Kerri sat up on the gurney looking extremely contrite and to Renfield’s eye utterly adorable.

Dr Corbett smiled at the obviously distraught man who someone had told him was a police officer. “You can relax Mr. Turnbull, although your wife exhibited many of the same symptoms she did not have a heart attack.” He watched the man brighten considerably. Even though his patient had just told him that she and the corporal were separated Dr Corbett could see the Coporal show definite concern for his wife.

“If not a heart attack then what?” Renfield asked.

“A panic attack,” Kerri sighed. “Just a stupid panic –"

“Oh no! Not stupid in the least. Although not as serious a panic attack can represent a serious underlying disorder. Have you experienced any major stressors in your life lately?” Dr Corbett asked.

Renfield was about to begin kicking himself for being the direct cause of Kerri’s attack when she spoke up.

“I’ve been having some issues at work. I’ve been worried about something that’s going on and haven’t known what to do. Then yesterday, well I think I’m about to be fired.”

“Well, Mrs. Turnbull you are very fortunate your husband paid you a visit today. If you had fallen onto that broken drinking glass this trip to the ER might have been even more urgent.” He patted her on the leg and continued, “I’ll give the nurse a prescription for you for Klonopin. Just keep an eye out,” he said turning to Renfield. “And if possible you might want to stay at her house for a day or two, just to be sure.” Turning back to Kerri he said, “please do not think of this episode as ‘stupid’. We need to be sure that you are healthy. I’m going to leave instructions for you to see your PC as soon as possible.”

“Take care of her, Corporal,” Dr. Corbett said as he left the area.

Renfield helped Kerri put her shoes on and then trotted out to call them a cab. When he returned he glanced through the privacy curtain and caught her in an unguarded moment. She looked much improved than earlier in the day but he was still very worried about the woman the doctor had called ‘his wife’. It had been over a year since he’d allowed himself to think of Kerri in those terms. But yet she was still his wife and always would be – until she told him differently.

“Are you ready to go?” he asked softly.

“Yes,” was all she said.

Neither of them spoke during the short trip back to her house. But once they were inside Renfield broke the uncomfortable silence. “Please let me fix you something to eat?” She smiled slightly and nodded her head. At this moment she could think of nothing more appealing than letting him cook for her.

She followed him into the kitchen and sat at the table while Renfield bustled around starting preparations for she knew not what. Although she knew there was little to choose from she also knew from experience Renfield was capable of making something delicious out of ‘little to choose from’.

He found some leftover rotisserie chicken in the frig and a jar of spaghetti sauce in the cupboard. When he found rice in a canister he knew exactly what they would eat. He boiled the rice, lightly sautéed the chicken in a little butter and dried herbs and then added the spaghetti sauce. Once the rice was done he had an almost perfect copy of his chicken Caruso.

When he sat the plate in front of her she knew immediately what it was and a split second later she began to cry.

In years passed Renfield would have gathered her into his arms and comfort the tears away with the mere touch of his embrace. But now he was unsure if holding her would be welcome so, reluctantly he just stood beside her with what he hoped would be a comforting hand on her shoulder and let her cry.

Finally, he could tell her tears were subsiding so he tried to lighten her mood. “Don’t like the food?” he joked.

She chuckled softly. “You know I love this, I always have – ever since the first time you cooked for me.” She took a few bites to prove the truth in her words, to both of them.

But after just the little bit of food she seemed to be done. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the wall behind her. After a couple of minutes she opened her eyes and looked directly at Renfield. She took a deep breath and then exhaled deeply.

“I’m so sorry, you know?”

“About the food? If you –"

“No, I said I love it. I love…loved everything you cooked! No, I’m sorry about today. You shouldn’t have had to be there. You’ve been through so much! I should have dealt with this sooner and then you wouldn’t have had to go through it,” she sighed as her voice threaten to fail her.

“What! I sincerely hope you are not serious! If this had happened when you were alone…if you had fainted and fallen on that broken glass…well I can’t even think about that!” He was actually angry – with her and with himself.

Lowering his voice he said, “I would have done what I did for anyone! And for you…for you I would do anything!” Now was the time for him to say the rest – but he just couldn’t say it. He just couldn’t form the words to tell her how he felt.

“It’s just you’ve been through so much – I can’t, I don’t want to cause you any more pain,” she whispered.

Renfield knelt beside her and rested his forehead on hers, still unable to speak those 3 little words. Finally, he stood and pulled her up with him. They stood uncomfortably close for the next few moments, the closeness might be measured in inches but the chasm between them was immeasurable.

He was able to pull himself away from her closeness and said, “How about you get some rest? The meds they gave you in the ER have got to be working by now, go lay down for a while. I’ll run out a get a few groceries and fix a proper dinner for when you wake up.” He was heartened when Kerri nodded her head in agreement – and relieved when she turned away from him.

She went to the bedroom to lay on the small bed. Even though she knew she should try to relax this day had just been too much! Her head was spinning and she just didn’t know what could possibly happen next. Seeing Renfield had opened the floodgates of both hope and despair to the point she feared what next might be. He had been so close she felt the physical yearning for him almost unbearable. She hated that he could still do that to her! She was sure he didn’t know how much he was hurting her and she would never tell him. He had suffered enough.

She was very glad that Renfield had met with Ray. To her mind the only one who was completely without blame in all of this was Ray. Yet he had suffered too. First he’d lost his best friend when Renfield died, and then lost him again when Renfield came back. And at the very same time he had lost his lover. All of this was so unfair to Ray. But maybe, just maybe Ray and Renfield could at least be on speaking terms. If their friendship could heal then maybe at least one good thing would have happened.

Kerri changed out of the clothes she’d been working in when Renfield arrived and laid on her bed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. She thought she’d just take a short cat nap but in the end she slept for a full 24 hours.

**Chapter 13 ******

****Sunday** **

********

When she finally awoke it took a few minutes for her head to clear. She sat on the edge of her bed for another few minutes waiting for the room to settle down. When she could finally stand memories of all that had happened yesterday morning came crashing in and threatened to knock her legs out from under her. Finally, she was able to stumble to the bathroom and splash cold water on her face. Suddenly she felt much, much better. So much better in fact that she was able to run a brush through her hair and then check to see if Renfield was still there.

Alternating between hoping he had left and praying he hadn’t her prayer was answered when she found him in the kitchen, standing at the stove stirring something that smelled wonderful. She stood in the doorway for a couple of minutes staring at his back. She had done this so many times before, watched her beloved Renny bustling around the kitchen, entirely in his element, happy to just be alive. She had to shake herself out of her reverie. The man working in her kitchen was a totally different person than the sweet, gentle man she’d married. She dearly loved Renny but, she admitted to herself, she didn’t know this Renfield.

“Hello.”

Renfield jumped and spun around. “Hello!” He smiled at her. “You are looking so much better! How are you feeling? You certainly slept a long time.”

She returned his smile. “What are you cooking? It smells wonderful.”

“Just a simple beef stew. Living in a small village I’ve gotten used to recipes that don’t require specialized ingredients.” He grabbed a bowl off the counter and motioned for her to sit. “Try this, I hope you like it.”

In years past a statement like that from Renny would have sounded a little needy, as if he might live or die by her enjoyment of what he’d made for her. But now this Renfield’s statement was just that, a statement that required no comment.

But Kerri did comment, in that is she sighed in enjoyment, but a comment none the less. He brought a bowl and sat with her in companionable silence for a few minutes. But then he couldn’t help but comment, “you really are looking much better. I was worried about you.”

“Thank you for staying,” she said sheepishly, “it means a lot to me. This is so good!” They both realized she was trying to change the subject.

They were almost finished with their stew when Renfield laid his spoon down. Even though she thought she didn’t really know Renfield any more she did recognize his look – a look that said he had something on his mind. Something other than beef stew.

She was pretty sure she knew what he wanted to talk about, but she wasn’t ready to go there yet. So she spoke up before he had the chance to.

“Tell me about your village? Fraser Lake?”

Renfield sighed and set his thoughts aside for the moment. “It’s a small detachment, no big deal really –"

“Of course it’s a big deal! It’s your first command – that’s kind of cool!”

If she thought flattery would dissuade Renfield’s yet unspoken issue she was right, but only momentarily.

“Fraser Lake is small, and rather isolated. There are about 1000 residents plus the Nadleh First Nation band has about 400 members. There’s me, Constable Meyer and we have a part time admin assistant, Ruth.”

“Corporal Turnbull, I like the sound of that.”

“I didn’t really want any of it, you know? I didn’t think I deserved…” he saw her look and knew what she was about to say so he hurried on, “but now I’m rather proud of my small command.”

“And I’m proud of you,” she interrupted herself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound patronizing.”

“You didn’t, and thank you,” he said.

She had to think of something quickly. “No more red serge?”

“Not very often. The Review Order uniform stays in the closet most of the time.”

Kerri ran out of stalling tactics so she knew what was coming. A few years ago this would have begun what she had identified as their 3-phase problem solving method. Renny always had trouble coming to the point whenever he needed to talk about anything serious. By the look on Renfield’s face right now however, she knew he’d be getting to the point immediately thereby bypassing steps 1-2.

“I need to talk to you about something. You told Dr. Corbett that you were worried about something at work. What did you mean by that?”

“It’s really not –”

“Please do not trivialize this to me. It worried you enough to cause a panic attack, but of course I didn’t help.”

She sighed. “This started way before you showed up! I’m just really glad you were here. As you said if I’d fallen on that broken glass –”

“I think you are side stepping the issue. Maybe there’s something I can do to help?”

So, she just spit it out. “I think one of the account managers is embezzling from his accounts.”

“Have you told anyone?”

“See that’s part of the problem – he’s the son-in-law of the CEO.”

“Oh, that would be a problem. But what about the being fired part?”

“Am I being interrogated?” she smiled.

“Would that help?”

It felt so good to be sharing her problem with Renfield, almost like the days when they were happy. But it really scared her too. She had to get up from the table to stare out the kitchen window.

“I’m sorry if you’re finding this distressing. Maybe we could talk about it later?”

She turned to look at him. “No, please I’d like to talk to you about it. I’m feeling much better sharing it with…”

“And I’m glad of that.” And he was glad that he was able to talk to her again, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed just being comfortable with her. “Have you confided in anyone else?”

Confided in? Ha, that was a joke! She rarely spoke to anyone here. All of her friends were in Chicago and she was rarely in contact with any of them anymore either. “No,” was all she said.

“You never answered my question about your being fired?” His questions were gentle but the underlying reason was deadly serious.

“I think that William may know I suspect something. When I arrived early the other morning he was going through my files. Oh, he had some lame excuse, but I think he may have planted something. I haven’t been able to figure out what. I’ve searched, I’ve stayed there well into the night going through papers, but can’t…”

God! No wonder she had a panic attack! She was scared to death and had no one to share it with. “Kerri,” he asked softly so as not to scare her, “are you in any danger?”

“Other than being fired?” she chuckled. Then she realized what he meant. “You mean physical danger?” She hesitated while she thought about it. “No. At least I don’t think so. I never really thought about it.” But Renfield could tell by the look on her face she was now at least considering the possibility. “William is a lecherous creep, but I don’t think…”

Renfield sighed. Kerri thought of many men as lecherous but in her experience most of the time she was correct. He’d often wondered how hard it must be for her having men constantly leering at her.

“Does he know about me?”

She hesitated again. “Uh, not exactly. I put that I was married on my job application, but no one ever asked and I didn’t tell anyone. Why?”

“Because I’ve got an idea. Bear with me.” Renfield fished his phone out of his pocket and punched a speed dial number.

“Hi Ruth, it’s me. I need a big favor. Could you go to my place and get my review order uniform out of the closet in the spare bedroom? Then pack it up and take it to the post office and overnight it to me?” He smiled and then sighed. “Yes, very funny. No I’m not going to be in a parade – and I don’t need my horse!” He hoped she was joking – how in the world would you overnight a horse! “I’ll text you the address. Yes I’m having a good time and I’ll be back by the end of the week. Tell Meyer, never mind, I’ll text him too. Tell Charlie and the kids Chicago pizza is just as good as I said it was. Bye.”

“I’m going to do a little intimidating,” Renfield thought of Ray, remembering the time Ray had him intimidate ‘the hell’ out of a kidnapper. He answered Kerri’s unspoken questions. “Red serge seems to get much more attention than the plain old everyday Mountie uniform, don’t you think?” He didn’t wait for a response. “I think my showing up in uniform at your office will serve two purposes. First of all William the lecher will probably back off and second and more importantly it may spook him into doing something stupid and revealing his intentions. At the very least it should give you some breathing room and us a chance to figure out how to proceed.”

At this very moment Kerri realized that she could no longer deny it – she still loved this man with all her heart. The realization scared her to death and made her profoundly happy at the same time.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Renfield grinned.

“Is it okay if I stay here for a couple more days?” he asked. “It might take that much time to work through your predicament.”

“Of course! I’m just so grateful for your help.” She could have said a lot more but was afraid to recall all the wonderful ideas Renny had come up with over the years. She stopped short at that thought – she realized she was thinking of this man as Renny and that was a very dangerous thing.

“I have one request, however.” He turned deadly serious and earned her undivided attention.

“Could we go out and buy you a comfortable chair? This wooden one is very uncomfortable for extended periods of time.”

And so they went shopping. They found a store at the mall that had a descent floor model recliner that could be delivered late today, so that chair would find a new home in Kerri’s living room. In the meantime they stopped at the food court and picked up some Thai take-out. They found a table in a fairly quiet corner and sat down.

“Another uncomfortable chair?” Kerri teased.

“You’ll have another comfortable one in your house soon.” He had realized as long ago as yesterday that getting any information out of her was like pulling teeth so he just came out and asked, “why don’t you have any furniture to speak of?”

She looked at him over a fork full of sticky rice. Once she had chewed her food and stalled as long as she could she decided the truth was as good an answer as any other. “When I moved here I left all of my furniture in the book- er, in Chicago. When I moved back into the house it was such a mess I spent weeks just getting the trash out. Then, well, since I was the only one to ever be there, I guess I just decided I didn’t need anything else.”

Renfield’s heart broke for her. She had always been so outgoing and friendly, trusting everyone she met. They both had reveled in hosting friends for dinner or holding all manner of huge parties, and everything in between. Their bookshop had always been a hub of entertainment of one sort or another. Now, well now her life was a direct result of what he had done. He had overcome the effects of his decisions but Kerri was stuck in a time somewhere right around the day he had returned from his undercover assignment – the day he had returned from the dead.

They continued to eat in silence for a time. The sounds of busy Sunday afternoon shoppers masking their need for conversation. Finally, when they could no longer stand their lack of conversation Renfield suggested they leave.

“We probably should go back to the house or that chair may get there before us.” They had always been so comfortable in one another’s company and now were anything but. He hated that all of what they had had been lost.

Glancing up he saw The Source electronics store across the way and had an idea. Actually, he was slightly alarmed that he hadn’t thought of it sooner. “Can you get into your office today?”

Kerri frowned. She really didn’t want to go to that place today. “Yes, but why?” she asked.

“Will there be anyone else there?”

“I’ve been there a few times on the weekend and there’s never been anyone around.” She had to ask again, “why?”

“Because I’ve just thought of something. Follow me.”

They went into the electronics store and Renfield sought out a clerk. A young man of about 20 offered his assistance. The clerk knew that sometimes these older folks needed a little help knowing what they wanted. Sometimes he was able to make a handsome sale to people who just let him recommend all manner of gadgets.

“How can I help?” he asked Renfield but looked at Kerri. Beautiful lady, he thought, for middle age that is.

Renfield and the young clerk put their heads together over something, but Kerri didn’t listen, being more interested in the aisle full of tablets and cell phones.

Renfield found her about 20 minutes later having purchased what he needed. If the young clerk had thought he’d found an easy mark in Renfield he was wrong, all Renfield had was one fairly small shopping bag.

“What did you buy?”

“A Bluetooth surveillance camera.”

Kerri frowned but then her eyes lit up. “Oh, for my office?”

“Yep. I wish I’d thought of it sooner. My uniform won’t be here until Tuesday and I think you need to take tomorrow off. But once William hears that you’ve been sick he may take the opportunity to commit some nefarious act.”

“Nefarious?” If he hadn’t been so serious Kerri might have thought his use of language to be cute.

“I’ve kept my office locked ever since I started suspecting –"

“Ah, but I’ll bet he has access to a master key?”

Kerri thought a minute, “probably,” she admitted.

Her office was on the 10th floor of the Madison Building. He could tell from the look of the lobby that this place represented quite a bit of money. He watched Kerri carefully. He was afraid that being in this place might bring on another attack but was pleasantly surprised to see that she apparently took no notice of her surroundings.

When they exited the elevator he was surprised yet again that rather than looking for an office with the company’s name on the door the elevator opened right into the lobby of her company. McCord Financial occupied the entire 10th floor.

She marched past the reception desk and through the maze of desks and cubicles toward the far end of the huge area. In the back of the area, up against the large windows were several offices of varying sizes. Kerri headed to a smaller office in the farthest corner from the elevator. She already had the key in her hand but found that the door was unlocked.

She cast a worried look at Renfield. “I know I locked this door! I know I did.” She thought a moment. “Maybe the cleaning crew?”

“That’s possible, I suppose,” but I doubt it, he thought. After selecting a place with a good vantage point Renfield placed the camera. Checking his phone he could see the doorway and her filing cabinets. Perfect for their needs.

“While we’re here with no one to observe us, let’s see if we can figure out what our culprit has been up to. When you saw him going through your files exactly where was he?”

“Over here,” she when to the second filing cabinet from the door and opened the 2nd drawer down.

“What’s in here?”

“Hard copy back up files of customer accounts.”

“Everything is computerized?”

“Of course.”

“Then, if he planted something in here we need to find out what. And we do that –"

“By comparing my computer record with the hard copies.”

“Exactly.” But, “can anyone else access your computer?”

Kerri gave him a look that he hadn’t seen in several years, a look that said ‘do you even know me?’

“Right, I’m sorry I asked. Why don’t we get started? They’re going to deliver the chair sometime after 5 so we’ve got some time to go through these files.”

After about 2 hours of crosschecking Renfield was ready to tear his hair out. How in the world Kerri could do this for a living was beyond him. It was the most tedious, mind numbing worked he could possibly imagine. And yet, Kerri seemed to be in her element. She knew exactly what she was doing and seemed completely at ease doing it. If not for what it represented he would have been pleased that she seemed so comfortable behind that desk. It never crossed his mind that the only reason she was comfortable was because he was in the room.

After about 3 hours of searching they came close to the last of the alphabetical files. In the file labeled Underhill they found something – a copy of a funds transfer slip that didn’t agree with her records. The transfer was in the amount of 75,000 dollars and was signed by Kerri. But she did not remember signing it and it was not on any of her computer spreadsheet records.

“I think this may be what we’re looking for!” she exclaimed. “But I’m not sure what it means.”

Renfield took the slip of paper from her and took a picture of it with his phone. He then put the paper back where he found it. “I think we should go now,” he said. “We’ve been here far longer than I intended and we don’t need to be here to try to work out the meaning behind this.”

As she straightened her desk Renfield took a good look at her office. The desk faced away from the window and its fantastic view. He also noticed that there were no personal items anywhere in the office, no artwork on the walls, no personal pictures on the desk or on top of the credenza not even a plant to warm up the space. Nothing that would establish the owner or what kind of person she was. Sort of like her house.

Once she had put everything back in its place the office looked like no one had been here. When they left Renfield suggested that they leave the door unlocked, just as they found it. The only evidence that they had ever been there was the tiny surveillance camera hidden almost out of sight behind the window blinds.

Somewhere a couple of miles from her house he decided. Decided to wait until they were able to get the lecherous embezzler sorted out. Decided to come right out and tell her what he had intended to say when he stood at her screen door – yesterday. My god! That was just over 24 hours ago! Maybe he shouldn’t wait.

He glanced at her sitting in the passenger seat fully intending to say it right then but saw that she wouldn’t have heard – she was sound asleep. He was so warmed that she could relax enough to sleep but still concerned for her health. If he’d had the right he would have insisted that she quit that damn job! Her health was precarious at best and worrying about William the Letch just made a bad situation worse!

She awoke when he pulled into her driveway. She sighed as she looked at the house. All the work she’d done, all the labor and it still looked awful. She wanted to cry she was so completely overwhelmed with it all. Renfield saw the look on her face and knew there was more he needed to do.

“Is there an afterhours number for your office?” he asked once they got inside the house. “I thought I’d call for you and leave a message that you won’t be in tomorrow. I’d really like for both of us to arrive together.” And maybe, if they were lucky William the Letch would get caught on the surveillance camera and she could prove – well he wasn’t sure, yet, what they could prove but he was certain Kerri would figure it out.

She listened through a tremendous yawn and Renfield laughed at her. “I think you should go back to sleep,” he laughed.

“I’ve done nothing but sleep for two days!” she pouted.

“You are overtired and have worked yourself almost to death. Let me help, please?”

“I am pretty tired, but I can’t rely –” she stopped short of what she intended to say.

“I know that I haven’t been there for you,” he held up his hand to stop her interruption, “and I am profoundly sorry for that. But let me help you now, please?” He took her hand and led her into the bedroom. “Please? Get some more rest?” He found it physically painful not to sweep her into his arms and lay down on the bed with her.

He left her to herself and went to wait for the chair to be delivered.

While he was waiting he made good use of his time. Since there was enough beef stew left over he knew he wouldn’t need to cook, but he did have the makings of dessert – apple pie, which he knew to be one of Kerri’s favorites. It was very hard to get fresh apples in his part of what Ray called the Northwest Areas, so this would be a treat for him too.

Once the pie was in the oven he set about his next task. When he had interrupted her yesterday Kerri was painting the back bedroom so he decided to finish it for her. He’d never cared for pink but that’s what she was using – so pink it was. Oh, she would have probably denied it was pink, calling it mauve or rose or even salmon, but to his artist’s eye it was definitely pink.

It took him no time at all to finish the painting and also the cleanup. Spying some fabric and tension curtain rods piled in a corner he hung the curtains too. The room looked very nice, if he did say so himself. A little sparse with no furniture, but that would come in time.

He had just finished admiring his handiwork when he heard the delivery truck in the driveway. He trotted through the house to head off the man before he rang the doorbell. There was no way he wanted to disrupt Kerri’s nap with any undue noise.

He made sure the guys delivering the chair knew to be quiet and he stood back and kept out of their way. He just had them put it in the middle of the room to allow Kerri to move it wherever she saw fit.

He stood on the porch as the delivery guys were leaving. “You moving in? ‘Cause if you need somebudy to paint this place my brother-in-law ain’t worked in a coupla months. He’s a housepainter by trade. Can I give ya my card? He lives with us.” Renfield could tell the man was not thrilled about that!

“Sure, I may give him a call.” Renfield stared at the man’s card as the truck drove away. It would sure be a lot easier if someone else could do the work on the exterior. It would make life so much easier for Kerri.

Around 6:00pm Renfield began to be concerned that Kerri was just sleeping too much. So, with the pie cooling on the counter he called Dr. Corbett’s exchange and left a message. Within 30 minutes Dr. Corbett called back. “What can I do for you Mr. Turnbull?”

“First of all Kerri is feeling much better,” he responded. “But she seems to be sleeping far too much. We went out for a while this afternoon, but since we’ve been home she’s been asleep and that’s after almost 24 hours of sleep after you saw her in the ER.”

“Is she taking the medication as prescribed?”

Yes, I’m making sure of that.”

“It sounds like the meds are too strong for her. Let’s trying reducing the dose by ½. It may take a couple of days to flush out of her system so watch her closely. Will you still be in the area for the next few days?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Call my office if needs be. Anything else I can help with?”

Renfield almost asked him if he knew how to handle a paint brush but thought better of it. “No, thank you doctor. We should be fine.”

It was only a few minutes after Renfield hung up from speaking with her doctor that Kerri poked her head out the bedroom door.

She smiled sheepishly at Renfield. “I did it again, didn’t I?” she asked. “Oh! The chair is here! I thought I would have heard them, but I must have really been out!”

“I asked them to be quiet. It’s a pretty good looking chair, isn’t it? I think we did pretty well.”

“Do I smell apple pie? And, and paint?”

Renfield chuckled. “You’ve been sleeping and I’ve been busy. Come see.” He led her through the kitchen past the pie, which she gaped at, and on into the back bedroom,” he stepped aside so she could see his handiwork.

“Thank you,” she whispered. She wanted to cry she was so grateful to him for all he was doing. But she knew she just couldn’t count on him for much longer.

Renfield wasn’t sure what to think. He’d hoped she would show more emotion, maybe even give him a hug. But apparently that wasn’t going to happen. Finally, “I spoke with Dr. Corbett earlier.”

Kerri was amazed that he’d accomplished so much while she was sleeping. “Did he call?”

“No, I called him. I was concerned you might be sleeping too much.” He found his enthusiasm waning slightly. He needed some reassurance from her that all he was doing was appreciated, but somehow, he just wasn’t getting that vibe from her at all.

They were both becoming discouraged. Renfield because he was beginning to think that she didn’t want him here and Kerri because she wanted so desperately for him to stay.

Finally he continued, “he told me you should reduce the amount of the medication by ½. So I cut all of the pills.” He reached behind the pie sitting on the counter and grabbed the bottle. “Be careful with these, he’s concerned they may be too strong for you.” He handed her the bottle and went back to the counter. “I’m anxious to cut into this pie. Do you want some stew now?” He said with very little emotion.

“Sure,” she said. “But you don’t have to wait on me. I can get it for both of us.” She ladled two bowls from the pot on the stove and handed one to Renfield. He took his and went to sit in the living room while Kerri sat at the table in the kitchen.

By the time she had finished her supper she was very contrite. She had treated him shamefully and she had to do something about it. She went to the freezer and dug out a container of ice cream. She then cut a healthy piece of pie and warmed it in the microwave. After topping the warm pie with a good-sized scoop of vanilla ice cream she took it to him.

“I am so sorry!” she explained as she handed him the pie. “I’m just so tired and you just sort of got in my way. It’s been so long since anyone has done anything nice for me, I guess I didn’t remember how to properly respond. It’s taken me so long to get to the point where I could actually finish redoing a room and it just took you a couple of hours! Thank you!”

His eyes locked with hers as he chewed his first bite apple pie and ice cream in a very, very long time. She saw a twinkle that she hadn’t seen in what seemed to be a lifetime. “Want a bite?” he grinned. She let him feed her and grinned as just a little bit of ice cream dribbled down her chin.

They both laughed and the previous incident was completely forgotten.

“I haven’t had apple pie in such a long time,” he sighed.

“You don’t get a chance to cook or bake, I guess?”

“It’s not that. Fresh apples are hard to come by and our only grocery store closed recently. I really miss all the fresh ingredients we used to be able to get, well…”

“In Chicago.” Back when things were good, she thought.

“How about we split another piece of pie?”

She started to head for the kitchen but pulled up short. “Renfield? I really am sorry. These last two days…”

“I know,” he whispered.

They ate Renfield’s fantastic pie in her living room. Now that there were two comfortable places to sit they both enjoyed the food and the company. Eventually the conversation turned to her situation at work.

“I need to make that call to your office.”

“What are you going to say?”

“Just that I…I’m a friend and you’ve been in the hospital and won’t make it in on Monday. That will give us a little time to plan and wait for my uniform to be delivered. Then on Tuesday we can go in together and shake their peaches.” Both of them looked at each other and burst out laughing.

“Did Ray ever tell you what that meant?” she giggled.

“It’s just something that Ray Vecchio said. I don’t even know that the other Ray knows!”

It was so good for her to see Renfield able to joke about Ray – just as if they’d never lost their friendship.

Renfield wondered what Ray would say if he could see Kerri right now. Finally laughing after so long. But he knew exactly what Ray would say – ‘greatness’. Ray never had anything but Kerri’s best interests at heart.

Renfield made the call and left the message they’d agreed on – Kerri had been in the ER and would not be in on Monday morning. “There, that’s done,” he said as he hung up. “That gives you another day of rest and try to figure out the meaning of the transfer slip.”

“I think I know at least something about that.”

“Really!”

“It’s pretty obvious when you think about it – it’s got to be a forgery. I know I didn’t authorize it, there’s no electronic record and it wouldn’t have been up to me to actually make the transfer anyway. We’ve just got to figure out how to prove the forgery and find out where the money went.”

“There’s a place in Lethbridge that analyses what they call questioned documents. I used them once to settle a property ownership dispute. If I remember right they have an office right here. I’ll call them tomorrow and see if I can get in to see them. I’m not sure if they can determine anything from a picture – but we’ll see. Can you figure out where the money went?”

“Probably, but I’ll need to be at the computer in my office. If he’s trying to place any blame on me I may be able to ferret that out.”

“Superintendent Scott said you were the best of anyone he’s ever known at doing just that!”

Renfield smiled at her reaction. She may not have any friends here, but she was just now being reminded of all the friends she had elsewhere. He was glad he was there to see that realization. The hour was growing late and Renfield realized that even he was tired. “Maybe it’s time for a good night’s sleep for both of us?” he asked.

“Why don’t you take my bed and I’ll sleep in the recliner? I’m sure I’d be very comfortable right here.”

“Oh no! Your bed is much too short for me and I’ve been planning on sleeping in that comfy chair ever since we bought it. I’d take a blanket if you have an extra, though.” After spending several sleepless nights recently he found the thought of a cozy night’s sleep in that chair quite appealing.

Kerri, on the other hand, was not the least bit sleepy, she’d slept enough in the last two days to last her for the next few months. She did go into her room to sit on the bed, however. She knew she should at least try to sleep. But instead she just sat at the head of her bed and leaned against the wall behind her. There was so much happening she was having trouble dealing with it all. Renfield’s showing up on her doorstep yesterday morning had served to reawaken feelings that she had desperately tried to bury. His physical closeness stirred a yearning deep within her – not just a sexual yearning, although that was certainly part of it – but a yearning to be close to another human being again. After a while she dozed.

She awoke sometime in the wee hours of the morning, wide awake and peaceably refreshed. Still sitting against the wall she let her mind wander back in time – to a time when she and Renny had been happy. With a smile she remembered the huge party they had thrown to christen their bookshop - Great Expectations. All of their friends and neighbors had come to celebrate with them, dressed as their favorite fictional characters. Renny had been dressed as Robin Hood. Ray told her Turnbull looked just like the Jolly Green Giant! And Benton looking so handsome, but when did he not, as Cardinal Richelieu. They had had so much fun that night. She smiled as she remembered Ray running down the stairs with a story about a speakeasy in their attic.

She was so sorry that Ray had been hurt by all that happened when Renfield went undercover. But in the numerous times since, when she searched her heart, she was not sorry that they had loved each other. It hadn’t lasted long, for her at least, but she truly believed that it was the right thing for both of them at the time.

She sat there for a long time reliving the joys of the past. She carefully avoided thinking about all of the troubles they’d had during their time together. For as much as trouble visited their home, joy had always replaced it, at least until two years ago.

When she could no longer stand it she ventured into the living room. Renfield was asleep, hopefully as comfortable as he looked. Kerri had never been able to resist his magnetism. From the moment they met she’d been inexplicably drawn to him, like the proverbial moth to the flame. Even after she thought he was dead she could not resist visiting him in the cemetery. That irresistible force could not be denied now either. She moved slowly and sat on the arm of the chair. He’d pushed it back as far as it would go and put up the footrest. He was right, he seemed to be very comfortable in her new chair.

She sat that way for several minutes, just studying his face. He certainly had changed from the Renny she’d married. He had always reminded her of a puppy – full of childlike naiveté with a little devilment tossed in and an all-knowing twinkle in his eye. But that Renny was gone. The man who returned from undercover didn’t seem to be here either – that man had been broken, both physically and spiritually. That Renfield’s face had only seemed to reveal pain and betrayal. No, the man she gazed at now was neither of those, and yet both of them. This man was harder than Renny, but kinder than the man betrayed. She’d seen the twinkle just briefly when they were eating pie and ice cream and she’d seen a glimpse of the puppy when he sought her approval after painting the bedroom. But she also saw a maturity that she’d never seen before and a hard-earned wisdom. And, she had to admit, a more handsome man than ever before. She grieved for the man that was lost but gloried in the man he had become.

Finally, when she could no longer control the urge, she gently touched his face. She ran the back of her hand down his cheek and across his chin, tenderly touching his lips –

“NO!” Renfield shouted, grabbing her wrist and bolting out of the chair, twisting her wrist until she yelped in pain.

It only took a couple of seconds for him to awaken completely but in that time Kerri wrenched herself away and stumbled backwards.

Once he’d realized what he’d done he reached for her repeating “Oh my God, oh my God,” over and over and over again.

As he reached for her she took another halting step away from him, but then she saw his face. The same face she’d seen the day she’d learned he was still alive, the look of the beaten man. 

She moved to him and let him wrap his arms around her.

“I am so sorry! Oh God Kerri I’m so sorry!” He pushed her away to gently take her arm. “Did I hurt you? Oh Kerri please tell me I didn’t hurt you!”

She drew him back to her and whispered against his chest. “I’m not hurt! I startled you, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have done that!”

“This is not your fault! Please,” she could tell he was choking back tears. “Please don’t blame yourself for what happened to me?”

She pushed back and looked him in the eye. “I have never believed any of this was anyone’s fault. I need to know you believe that.”

She led him back to the chair and pushed him down. Then she sat on the arm, where she had been a couple of minutes before. She bent to kiss him on the forehead. “Go back to sleep now. We can talk about this tomorrow. Please don’t worry about it? We’ll talk about it after we both get a good night’s sleep.”

Chapter 14

**Monday**

Kerri awoke very early the next morning and realized that Renfield was still sleeping. So afraid she might startle him again she waited patiently in her room until she heard the sounds of him moving around.

Even though it was still early she found him in the kitchen searching through the cupboards. She made sure he heard her coming. “Good morning,” she tried to smile brightly.

“Good morning.”

She was saddened that his tone wasn’t in the least bit friendly. “What are you looking for?”

“Medallion milk. You’re out of regular.”

“Top shelf on the right, way in the back. I don’t use it much,” she admitted. “What do you need it for?”

“Swedish pancakes. You really need to get some groceries in…” he muttered.

Kerri was heartened at the mention of Swedish pancakes. For as long as she’d known him Renfield used food to say what was in his heart, whenever he wasn’t able to form the words.

“But I don’t have any maple syrup,” she admitted sheepishly.

He sighed, but with his back to her she couldn’t see him smile. “Icing sugar it is then.”

It didn’t take him anytime at all to have a tall stack of crêpes ready for them. He brought the plate to the table and with it a bowl of icing sugar.

“Since I have never been able convince you of the delights of maple syrup I guess maybe you should convince me how good this is?” He offered her the bowl.

They ate for a while in silence, Kerri enjoying her favorite breakfast food for the first time in a very long time.

When they both had finished he stood and took the empty plates to the sink. “Thank you,” she called after him.

He stood at the sink with his back to her. “I never did get the chance to say what I needed to say when I came here on Saturday. Could we go sit for a moment? Let’s take our tea in there.”

Kerri took her tea and followed him silently. Once they were seated she shipped her tea and waited.

“I went to Chicago last week,” he started. “George – did I tell you about George?”

“He’s the retired psychologist?”

“Yes. He and I have been talking regularly since I first got to Fraser Lake. He convinced me, that is we decided that it was time for me to explain, to tell…” He sighed. “Drat! Sorry.” He regrouped and began again. “When I was approached by Deputy Commissioner Whittle at first I said no. At least I think I did,” he muttered. “But he was so convincing. I suggested Fraser or someone who had been trained for such work, but they –“

“They?” she asked.

“Whittle and Walter Scott.” He could tell Kerri was shocked. “I thought he might be there to see after my best interests. Anyway, I was their choice and they told me I’d be helping protect children! That I would be doing my duty to my country. I just couldn’t say no. But I insisted that I only be gone for a few weeks! And I never, NEVER knew they were going to stage my death!” He watched her face, hoping to see encouragement and maybe forgiveness.

“They finally agreed for me to be done by Christmas. I thought I could spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I was certain I could explain to you how important it was for me to –"

“To do your duty?”

“Yes! But then…then I guess I did my duty too well, or not well enough because I made contact with a guy who was highly connected in the Villanueva cartel in Colombia. He’d known René and assumed that because he was my twin I was just like him. And before I knew it I was in Colombia.”

Kerri could see that the memories were threatening to overwhelm him, so she quietly moved to the arm of his chair, put her arm around his shoulders and rested her cheek on the top of his head.

Her closeness gave him the strength to continue. “I was there for several months before they found out I was a cop. Then my fate was sealed.” It was so hard for him, even after all the therapy and counseling and meetings with George, to speak of these things. Especially with Kerri. He breathed deeply and continued, “while I was being tortured and…and whipped,” he felt her squeeze his shoulder offering him comfort in the only way she knew how, “I had to keep you and our love in my mind’s eye. I made our love to be sort of a holy love – perfect and unchanging. That’s the only way I could bear it. And then I was shot and I knew I was going to die. I saw a, a vision, I guess, of you as an angel coming to take me to heaven.”

He turned to look up at her and saw tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“And I didn’t mean to hurt you! I never got the chance –"

“Please let me finish? I need to get this out. When I learned that you were with Ray I was hurt for a little while and then I was angry. Horribly angry. I blamed Ray, then God, then you. But,” he hurried on, “but after lots of therapy and time talking to George I realized that there was only one person responsible for the way I felt – ME! You and Ray, you just did the natural thing and I told him so last week. You weren’t disloyal to me, Kerri, I know that now and have known it for some time. It’s just taken until now for me to be able to tell all of you. If you were about to apologize for being with Ray, I’m just glad that he was there for you when I wasn’t.”

“I’m not sorry for turning to Ray, I’m really not. He helped me so much when I was suffering. What I am desperately sorry for is how much you were hurt,” Kerri explained.

“There’s something else I need to explain,” he said. “Last night, when I, when I hurt you – well I guess the easiest way to explain is to just show you.” He stood and untucked his shirt. Facing her he slowly unbuttoned it, took it off and very, very slowly turned around so she could see his back.

She couldn’t help herself, Kerri gasped. Cut across almost every inch of his back were horrendous, angry scars from a whip. He turned quickly back to face her and was stunned to see how pale she was. 

“I’m sorry!” he exclaimed. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have just sprung this on you. Sometimes I forget just how awful I look.”

She stood in front of him and without speaking turned him around. He tried to cover himself with his shirt but Kerri would have none of that. She began to gently touch each and every scar and once she had touched each one she started to gently kiss them almost as if she were trying to heal them. He knew she was crying because he could feel the hot tears on his skin.

Finally he pulled her around to face him and took her in his arms. They both cried.

After a while they came back to themselves and dried their tears.

“Hey!” she demanded, getting his undivided attention. “What did you say just then!”

“W-what?” he stammered.

“About how you look!”

“Oh,” he sighed. “I know my back is really ugly.” He hung his head.

“You hold on there just one second Buster! There is not one thing about you that is ugly! Not one blessed thing! Those scars represent bravery, and, and heroism and duty and saving children! They are just the outward representation of a fine man doing the best he could do for others.” She lowered her voice dramatically. “They just remind me of what a fine man you are.”

“I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you the rest.” He bowed his head and reminded her ever so briefly of the old Renny, the puppy Renny. But she wasn’t sure she could take one more thing about how he’d been hurt.

He stepped closer, so close their bodies were almost touching. “I love you,” he breathed. “I always have.”

Before she could think he kissed her, gently at first and then, when she didn’t pull away, he drew her into a tight embrace. Her knees went weak and it was necessary to wrap her arms around his neck, but his kiss never waived.

He began to move against her in a way that they both knew all too well. Hundreds of times before this would have ended much differently, but as Kerri regained her senses she knew they had to stop.

She reluctantly pulled away from him saying, “we can’t do this.” She touched his face gently and looked into eyes filled with passion – and disappointment. “Not now. Not yet,” she whispered, “I’m sorry, I just—"

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry. But about what I did, not about what I said.” He shuffled around a little bit, trying to come up with something to say. Finally, “maybe we should talk about what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

Kerri went to sit in her old chair, still slightly shaken from their brief encounter. Renfield followed in kind and just as he sat down his phone rang. He jumped up to fish the phone out of his back pocket.

“Hi Ruth. Did you get my uniform mailed? Why?” Apparently he didn’t care for her response.

“Not to worry Ren. I gave it to Jimmie last night. He was dead-heading back to Edmonton so I figured he’d get there this afternoon some time. I gave him the address.”

“Ruth, I know he’s Charlie’s brother, but he’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer and if he sees any aliens you know he’ll never make it this far.”

“I made him promise to make your red serge his top priority. He’ll be there or I’ll kill him myself. Promise.”

“I guess I’ll have to trust you on this one. Things okay otherwise?”

“Yup.” She sighed. “Toilet backed up again, but Meyer’s on that.”

“Well, tell him not to drown.” He hung up and turned to find Kerri sound asleep.

“You keep falling asleep on me,” he whispered, “and I’m going to get a complex.”

He took his phone and went to the back porch. This time he made the call – to Ottawa. While Kerri was napping he got ahold of Superintendent Scott. The constable who answered the phone wasn’t particularly interested in putting Renfield directly through to her boss, but Renfield insisted that she at least tell him who was calling. “Tell him it’s Corporal Turnbull, he’ll want to talk to me.”

Renfield was put on hold for approximately 30 seconds before Scott was on the line. “Turnbull! Haven’t heard from you in a coons age. How’s the outback of BC treating you?” Scott never could remember the name of that village where they sent Turnbull.

“Fine Sir. But I’m not calling from Fraser Lake. I’m in Edmonton and I need a favor – that is Kerri and I need a favor.”

That got the Superintendent’s immediate attention. Kerri Turnbull was one of his favorite people in the world and he would always believe that what had happened to her, well to both of them, was at least partly his fault. And he knew that her relationship with Turnbull had ended as a direct result.

“What do you need, Corporal?”

“I came to Edmonton to see if we could have some sort of reconciliation. But before I could even get to that she ended up in the emergency room –"

“What! Is she okay? You didn’t –"

“No sir, I didn’t do anything to hurt her! She’s been working too hard again.” No one knew better than Scott how hard Kerri drove herself. “And she’s worrying herself sick and had no one to help her. She’s apparently uncovered some illegal activities at her investment firm –"

“Well that’s not surprising she was always better at that than anyone I know –"

“Yes, but I think the culprit is aware of her suspicions and is trying to intimidate her and possibly frame her for the activities, if it comes to that.”

“Damn! What’s the name of this place? What can I do to help?”

“She works at a place called McCord Financial in downtown,” he said. “What I’d like to ask you is,” hesitating to gather his thoughts he went on, “I’d like a short leave of absence from my detachment so that I can help her sort out the embezzlement and then help her recuperate. She needs help Sir and I think I can give it to her if I have a little time.”

“How long?”

“Hopefully about a month should do,” he hoped.

“You got it. I’ll take care of the particulars. That Constable of yours, ah…”

“Meyer, Sir.” Who was currently up to his elbows in backed up plumbing. But of course he didn’t tell Scott that.

“Of course, Meyer. He capable of handling things by himself? Or do you need me to send someone else to help out?”

“Meyer is perfectly capable, Sir. If he gets in over his head he can get help from Ft Fraser.” Renfield almost snickered. Hopefully, he wouldn’t get in over his head with his current situation.

“Good,” Scott said perfunctorily signaling that the call was at an end. Before he hung up he added, “Take good care of her Turnbull. She is the only one who bears no blame for any of this. Ah,” he hesitated, “do you think there is any chance of your ah, bonding?”

“I’m not sure, Sir,” he said. I truly hope so, he thought. “Thank you for your help. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye Turnbull.” Scott hung up the phone and sat staring into space for a couple of minutes.

Then he made another call.

Kerri was awake when he came back into the house. She sat with her elbows on her knees and hung her head.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned about her health once again.

“Yes,” she sighed. “I’m just so tired of falling asleep so much.”

“How about we get you a doctor’s appointment once we get the William the Letcher stuff worked out? Remember Dr Corbett thought that medication might be too strong for you? Let’s get you checked out.”

Kerri grinned at him. “William the Letcher. Sounds like the name of an ancient English king.”

“I talked with Ruth a little while ago. She sent my uniform with a long-haul trucker on his way to Edmonton. If he doesn’t get abducted by aliens he should be here fairly soon.”

“Pardon?”

Renfield chuckled. “Jimmie Vickers is Ruth’s brother-in-law, and a few clowns short of a circus. He calls my office whenever he’s in the area claiming to have seen aliens on 16W between us and Ft Fraser.”

“So tell me about this Ruth. Is she petite, blond and oh, about 20?”

Now Renfield laughed out loud. “Not quite. She’s a little bit pudgy, white haired grandmother and the sweetest lady you’re ever likely to meet. She and Charlie, her husband, are retired schoolteachers from Grand Prairie.”

Kerri smiled at him. “You’re really happy there, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he said. Then he sighed, “and no. It’s been really good for me but now I sort of feel like I’m hiding there, you know? With all I’ve seen and all that’s happened I just know there’s a bigger more complex world out there. I’ve been think –” At that moment Jimmie Vickers pulled up outside.

“Got a special delivery for my sis’s favorite Mountie,” he yelled as he trotted up the sidewalk, Renfield’s Stetson perched on his head, garment bag slung over his shoulder and a pair of Strathcona boots in his other hand.

“You made good time! Ruth called to say you wouldn’t be here until this afternoon. It’s barely 9am.” Renfield called back. “No aliens this trip?” he asked in all seriousness.

“I told ya – they only show themselves to west bound truckers.”

Just then Kerri came out onto the porch. “Hello, Mr. Vickers. I’m Kerri.”

“Hiya, Miss.” Then he realized and whispered to Renfield, “this the Missuz? She’s quite a looker!”

“That she is,” Renfield whispered back. “Thanks for this,” he said as he took his uniform from Jimmie. “Where’s the trailer?”

“Sorry about the hat, didn’t have no more free hands! Dropped the trailer at the yard before comin’ over here. These streets are too narrow. Sorry ta be in a rush but Sadie’s waitin’ at the truck stop. Gotta go now, nice meetin’ ya ma’am.” And with that Jimmie was gone.

As soon as the Edmonton office opened Renfield was on the phone with a graphologist. The gentleman told him that if he could come immediately he could spare them some time in about 20 minutes.

Before they rushed out the door Renfield reminded Kerri to bring her checkbook for several signature samples over the last several months. “I don’t write many checks anymore, but there are probably enough here to be of use.”

Once they got to the office they found a man oat least 60 years of age waiting for them. “You’re Mr. Turnbull? I’m Lester, Lester Stein. You’re lucky,” he said, “business is a little slow today. Let me see what you’ve got.”

“Actually Mr. Stein, it’s Corporal Turnbull RCMP out of Fraser Lake BC. I think you may have done some work for me a few months ago?”

“Ah, yes! From my Lethbridge office. You had those two brothers arguing over their dad’s will, if I’m not mistaken. Messy business, family disputes like that. Same thing here?”

“No sir. Can you tell anything from a cell phone photo? We need to know if it can be proven that Kerri – Sorry this is Kerri, my wife.” He was surprised how easy it was for him to say the words. “That Kerri did not sign this document. We brought along her checkbook with samples of recent signatures.”

He took Renfield’s phone and looked at the picture and then took the checkbook from Kerri.

“It’s very hard to tell from a picture,” he muttered, “you got the original?”

“I, ah I can get it.” Kerri said.

“If you need to go to court with this problem you’ll need that. But just from what you’ve got here - see the way you sign the double ‘L’? And the leading top of the ‘K’? That’s a dead giveaway. The document in the picture is definitely not your signature. I can be pretty sure the picture is a forgery. But don’t quote me on that for legal purposes until I can see the original.” He smiled at them. “Hope that helps you.” But he could tell from the look on the pretty lady’s face it helped a lot.

“Thank you, Mr. Stein,” Renfield said as he shook the man’s hand. “How much do I owe you?”

“Just throw some of that RCMP business my way and we’ll call it even.”

“Thank you, Sir,” Kerri called over her shoulder as they walked out of the office. “You’ve been a big help.”

Did an old man’s heart good, he thought, helping young couples like that. Whatever trouble they were in he hoped his expertise would be useful.

“You doing okay?” Renfield asked as they walked to his rental car.

“Oh, yes! I’m great. So much better now.” She stopped dead in her tracks right before they got to the car. “Thank you.”

Renfield grinned at her as he opened his door.

Once they were back at the house Kerri had time to think. So many things were happening. Up to this point her existence in Edmonton centered around fixing this damnable house and work. Now things were moving so fast she was having trouble keeping up. She found herself envying Renfield. It seemed he’d made some interesting friends since leaving Chicago. She had nothing to show for her time away except loneliness and an empty house.

Renfield noticed the change in her mood almost immediately. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he knew something needed to be done. “How about some lunch while we talk about the plan for tomorrow?”

They made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for their lunch. Kerri couldn’t even begin to count the number of times they’d prepared this same lunch. When she wasn’t feeling well, when they’d have an argument and he’d wanted to apologize, when they didn’t have a lot of time and wanted to eat in a rush, so many different reasons to fix this combination. This time it was because she didn’t have much else to choose from.

They sat together at the small kitchen table and ate in silence, each remembering what this meal represented.

After a while Kerri broke the silence. “He’s kind of cute.”

“Who?” He looked up at her as she smiled. “Jimmie?” he almost choked on his soup.

“Seriously? You’d have to fight Sadie for him, I’m afraid. I think she used to be a professional wrestler.” He looked at her over a bite of sandwich and grinned.

Kerri was suddenly overwhelmed by a huge wave of melancholy, thinking of all the happiness of moments like this they had missed over the last two years. She was so overwhelmed that she suddenly found it hard to breathe.

Renfield saw it immediately, but this time he knew what it was and exactly what to do. “Kerri,” he knelt beside her and took her hand and spoke to her firmly but slowly, “focus on me, look into my eyes. Feel my hand on yours. Listen to my voice. Concentrate on the feel of my hand and the sound of my voice. Concentrate honey. Feel the breath in your lungs. Breathe slowly, evenly. Listen to the sound of my voice. Do you feel my hand? Close your eyes and listen to the sound of the dog barking next door. Smell your soup. Center yourself in this room.” Finally he breathed a sigh of relief as he could tell she was starting to relax. “Is it better now?” He watched her closely for a couple of minutes and could see the attack pass.

“Okay now?” he asked softly.

She nodded but could not yet respond. He stood and helped her to do the same. “I’m sure glad we got that chair,” he said as he led her into the living room. “Whoever invented wooden chairs must not have had to sit on them very long at a time.”

Once they had settled in she said, “thank you. This one was much easier than the others.” God, she really hadn’t meant to say that!

“You didn’t tell me there had been other attacks before Saturday! When? Did you tell Dr Corbett? You should have told me!”

“I’m sorry, all of this is just happening so fast. I didn’t want you to worry and I didn’t want to admit there was a problem. And yes, I told Dr Corbett everything.”

He dearly wished he could have been there for her. The thought of her suffering alone was almost more than he could bear.

“Maybe we should rethink what we’re doing tomorrow? Maybe it’s too soon? I don’t want to –"

Her melancholy had passed and she was feeling more herself, so she was quick to respond. “Please, I need your help with this. Just knowing you are here to help figure all of this out has made it so much easier. I’ll be okay as long as you are with me.”

He smiled deeply, it warmed him to the core just knowing his presence was reassuring to her.

So now, even if William the Letcher had planted other incriminating evidence they could at least provide doubt as to its veracity. And if he tried to get into her office again they’d know about it.

Next on the agenda was to find positive proof that he really was embezzling and from whom. What they couldn’t have known or accounted for was the fact that William had been doing a little spying of his own. Oh, he didn’t just spy on Kerri, although she was his primary target, he spied on everyone within range of the pan and zoom surveillance camera he had secreted in the fire sprinkler over the administrative assistant’s desk in the middle of the far end of the office.

His cell phone notified him on Sunday afternoon that there was movement in the office so he watched as Kerri and some unknown tall guy came into view and went into her office. He watched as the tall guy went to her file cabinet and then watched in horror as they started going through files.

When they’d first hired Kerri Turnbull he thought she’d be a perfect patsy. With a face like that and a body to match he’d figured she was just dumb blonde bimbo. But as the weeks then months passed and his constant moves on her were rebuffed he began to wonder. Reluctantly he’d started to follow her work a little more closely. Far from being a dumb blonde he realized too late for his own good that Kerri was close to uncovering what he was up to.

So pissed that some stupid woman could undo his tidy little scheme he’d started putting his exit strategy into motion. He’d transfer as much as he could from that idiot Underhill and a few others and have a huge addition to his already huge nest egg to retire on. He was long overdue to get out of this game anyway. The icing on the cake was that he’d put the blame, if it proved to be necessary, in her lap.

Seeing her in the office on Sunday just meant he’d have to move a little faster than he’d originally planned. The wife and kiddies presented no problem – they weren’t going with him anyway.

**Chapter 15**

****Tuesday****

****

****

Tuesday morning, bright and early, Kerri and Renfield got ready to go to her office. For Kerri getting ready for work normally required little preparation. Usually she just pulled her hair into a tight bun at the nape of her neck, yanked one of her few gray or black business suits and a black or white blouse out of her closet and that was about it. She hadn’t really cared how she looked since about the second month she’s worked for McCord’s. Thinking back on it now she realized she had hated her job since just about that same time.

Today was different though. Today she had a point to make and part of that point was to impress her boss, and a small part of that impression was how she looked. So this morning she gave herself extra time and applied more makeup than she’d worn in a very long time, tied her hair back with a pink floral scarf that Meg had given her a few years ago and searched her closet for a navy blue suit with a skirt rather than pants. She searched for a few minutes for a pink silk blouse she knew she had somewhere and once having that in hand she searched for navy shoes. The shoes had a higher heel than she was used to, but after a few wobbly steps her muscle memory kicked in and she was able to maneuver around her room without falling on her face.

Once completely ready she glanced in her full-length mirror and was pleased with what she saw. But, after taking a very hard look she realized her hair was still too severe so she pulled off the scarf and allowed her hair to fall free. She tied the scarf around her neck and took a second look. Much better, she thought. Her appearance even served to bolster her confidence. Now on to pass the Renfield test.

Renfield hadn’t slept. He was nervous about this morning, concerned about Kerri and worried about the future. He had complete confidence in Kerri’s knowledge of the facts about William but with her health so precarious he was afraid she might not be able to hold up under the pressure. He was also worried that after that one kiss she had never acknowledged his declaration of love. He hadn’t come here expecting her to fall into his arms and ride off into the sunset with him, but he’d certainly hoped that she would react in some little way.

Unlike Kerri, Renfield didn’t have to allow extra time for decision making or getting dressed. He’d timed himself once, years ago. It had taken him 3.45 minutes to put on his uniform, that was not timing for the boots, mind you, sometimes they had a mind of their own. Today he only needed an extra minute. He smiled as he thought that his boots knew that today was important and cooperated in kind.

When she walked out of her bedroom Renfield was temporarily frozen. She looked so beautiful and so much more self-assured!

“I love you in red serge!” Kerri smiled.

And I love you, Renfield thought. “You look wonderful, businesslike, but wonderful.”

She walked over to the little table and opened the drawer, pulling out a black leather case. “One more thing.”

She turned around and Renfield was shocked. “When did you start wearing glasses?” She looked so darn cute wearing them.

“I guess I could have gotten contacts, but these are so much easier and I really didn’t care…”

Renfield knew what she was about to say and it made him sad to think she didn’t really care about anything, her appearance being among the rest.

“Well I think they look cute!”

Their plan was to arrive just a couple of minutes before nine, thereby allowing for Renfield’s full intimidation factor.

When they stepped off the elevator and headed toward William’s office, they elicited the exact reaction Renfield had expected. First just a few and then almost everyone stared at them, some even stood up in their cubicles to see what everyone else was gaping at. They were initially attracted to the red of Renfield’s uniform, but as the women continued to gape at the handsome Mountie more and more of the men turned their gaze toward Kerri. If asked anyone in the office would claim to have never spoken to her, except possibly the perfunctory ‘good morning’ or ‘nice weather we’re having’ but nothing more. Most of the men currently regretted that.

Renfield stationed himself against the glass wall of the William’s office, partially obscured from the occupant by the vertical blinds. He said nothing, just stood ramrod straight and motionless, hands clasped behind his back and feet spread slightly. As he stood there, apparently, to those who were staring at him anyway, he looked straight ahead seeing nothing. But Renfield was not seeing nothing – he was seeing everything. His time standing guard duty at the Consulate had taught him a lot about studying the world around him, while seemingly in a trance. Now he saw several female employees pointing at him, some ogling him, he watched the eyes of several of the male employees follow Kerri as she walked on past him. He saw a building maintenance employee stow a huge ladder at the far end of the room. He saw many employees as they arrived for work apparently a few minutes late, if their body language was any indication. He saw the administrative assistant as he walked to his desk and take a seat. He also saw the tiniest of movements on the ceiling that caused his heart to skip a beat.

William was knee deep in the last of his transfers, and completion of his exit plan, completely oblivious to anything else around him – until he caught a glimpse of red out of the corner of his eye.

He was angry at the intrusion. He couldn’t allow anything to interrupt his concentration, he knew he had to hurry and get this done because his flight was in just over 2 hours. He tried to continue, but he knew the guy outside his door was a cop and he had to get rid of him FAST. He jumped up, threw open his door and confronted the stoic Mountie.

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted.

“Waiting, sir,” Renfield answered quietly, while still staring straight ahead.

“What for!”

“Further instructions.”

“Well get the hell outta here!” William shouted even louder, getting the attention of everyone on the entire floor, even those who had been gaping at Kerri as she strode toward McCord’s office.

“Sorry sir. I can’t do that.” Renfield stated softly, all the time still staring straight ahead.

“Get the hell out of here or I will –"

“Call a cop, Sir? You could try 911, but I doubt they would send anyone because I am already here, Sir.” Renfield stated evenly. “Or you could try the local RCMP detachment. The number is 780-412…but then again I doubt they would come either…since I’m already here.

Whether it was his tone of voice, his ridged stance or just because he was wearing red, the other man lost it. “I don’t have time for you! Get the HELL outta here!!” he shouted again.

When Renfield did not move so much as an eye lid William shoved the bigger man so hard Renfield lost his footing and fell to the floor. In one swift and fluid motion Renfield jumped up, grabbed his pistol lanyard, both of William’s hands and tied them behind his back.

William continued to shout as a few of the shocked employees applauded. “You can’t do this to me,” he continued to shout as he struggled against the cord binding his hands. “HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA WHO I AM?”

Renfield pushed the other man back into his office and using a zip tie he had in his pocket strapped William to his desk. “I know exactly who you are,” Renfield whispered in his ear. He was still shouting as Renfield stepped outside, closed the door against the shouts of the restrained man and resumed his position with a slight but very brief smile.

Kerri had continued on to McCord’s office, down a short hallway to his assistant’s desk. In her briefcase she carried records she hoped would convince her boss of her suspicions. She still could not prove anything specific but she was very, very close and knew she needed to share this information with McCord. She hoped he would then put a stop to whatever William was trying to do. At least that is what she hoped.

When she rounded the corner she frowned. She expected to see Abigail at her desk – Abigail rarely left except for lunch and it was only just after 9am. Instead of Abigail a non-descript man in a severe suit stood outside McCord’s closed door.

“Is Mr. McCord in?” she asked, hesitantly. If he wasn’t here all of this would be for nothing.

“And you are?”

“Kerri Turnbull.” This guy really worried her. “Who are –" But he had turned away from her to open the office door. He motioned for her to go in.

Once inside Kerri got the surprise of her life. Emmett McCord sat at his desk looking as if he were about to have a stroke, surrounded by at least a dozen guys wearing Brooks Brothers type suits as severe as the one she’d just seen on the other side of the now closed office door.

There had been a conversation in progress when she walked in, but everyone stopped mid-sentence and stared at the intruder.

“I…I’m sorry. I… I didn’t mean to intrude,” she stuttered, wondering vaguely if she should run.

When she entered the office she had failed to notice a man currently standing behind her.

“Hello Kerri,” the man said.

Startled, she spun around to see – “Walter! God, Walter! W-what are you doing here?”

“So this is the famous Kerri Turnbull. Walter has been singing your praises for years,” another man stepped up to introduce himself. “Patrick Malone, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.”

“Hi,” Kerri whispered, more confused than she had ever been in her life.

Walter chuckled and whispered, “Turnbull said you needed help. I brought help.” He had never seen her so befuddled and thought she looked very cute, sort of like his granddaughter when she couldn’t find her teddy bear.

Kerri couldn’t even form the words to ask – if she even knew what to ask.

“We’ve had our eye on this company for a while now,” Malone explained. “When Walter called me I knew we’d have to act. Do you have any idea which accounts the funds are being taken from?”

“Thomas Underhill is one I think, there’s an account number.” Kerri regained her composure as she kicked into accountant mode. She laid her briefcase on a nearby table and fished out a copy of the Underhill file. “Renfield has a picture of a transfer slip that I supposedly signed. We took it to a graphologist yesterday and it’s a forgery.”

Malone snatched the information from her and quickly handed it to a Brooks Brother who was seated at a computer in a far corner.

“Turnbull’s here?” Walter asked.

“Yes, he’s watching William. We were afraid when William saw him he might try to run.”

“Sir?” the as yet unnamed Brooks Brother asked. “The numbers in this file took me to several transfers from company accounts that have been made this morning. They stopped about 10 minutes ago.”

“That would be Renfield.” Kerri smiled.

“Who’s William?” Malone asked.

“William Gaston, my daughter’s husband,” McCord spoke for the first time since Kerri had entered the office, his voice shaky with fear.

Several Brooks Brothers in the office gave each other knowing looks.

“You’ve conducted this investigation on your own?” yet another Brooks Brother asked.

“Up until Renfield got here Saturday, yes,” she admitted. Although she hadn’t done much, she thought.

“Renfield?” the Brooks Brother asked.

“That would be Corporal Renfield Turnbull, RCMP,” Walter explained. Kerri thought she detected a note of pride in Walter’s voice and that made her smile.

Brooks Brother #2 took the copy of the Underhill file from Brother #1 and skimmed it briefly. “This is the file we’ve been trying to recover all night! He deleted the original.” Looking at Kerri he said, “thanks!”

“I’m an accountant, I keep copies of everything.” Approximately half of the Brooks Brothers in the office nodded in agreement.

Walter took a good long look at Kerri. He then suggested that she sit down. Turnbull had told him she’d been unwell, and she was looking completely overwhelmed at the moment.

When she sat Malone took the chair across from her to explain. “Your husband called Walter and said you were in trouble at work. Walter knew that it must be big if you couldn’t quite figure it out, so he called me. And here we are! This whole thing is a lot bigger than you know. It’s not just a simple matter of embezzlement from McCord.” Although in his experience embezzlement was never simple. “Gaston has been operating all over the country under different aliases. He’s stayed longer in Edmonton than any place else – and he certainly underestimated you!”

That happens to me a lot, Kerri thought.

“And, apparently your husband. Though I doubt he knew he was a Mountie.”

Just as Malone was explaining things to Kerri yet another Brooks Brother walked up to Turnbull. “Corporal,” he said pulling out his identification, “I’m John Ericksson, CAFC. I see you’ve got a detainee in there,” he nodded toward William, “care to bring him down the hall and share him with us? Your wife’s there too.”

Even though he had been standing stock still and staring at a fixed point out the window across the room, Renfield was getting very tired of feeling people gaping at him. “Yes, sir!” he said, with just a tad too much enthusiasm. “I just have one thing I need to do first. Could you watch this – person?”

As Ericksson stood guard over William he watched the Mountie stride to the far end of the large space, open a door marked ‘Maintenance’ and haul out a tall ladder – the same ladder that Renfield had seen earlier. He lugged the huge thing to the Administrative Assistant’s desk, asked the stunned guy to please move out of the way, set up the ladder and climbed to the ceiling. He yanked on the fire sprinkler and came away with a tiny object hardly bigger than a loonie, leaving the mounting hardware behind. He climbed down the ladder, leaving it in place and walked back to Ericksson. “Now I’m ready go!”

William’s shouts had quieted about as soon as he realized no one was going to come to his aid but as soon as Renfield opened the door he started shouting again.

“What do you Anti-Fraud guys do with prisoners,” he asked while struggling to manhandle Walter through his office door, “who won’t shut up?”

“We usually shoot them.” William stopped shouting.

When they finally got the struggling man into McCord’s office Renfield shoved him into a nearby chair and ordered, “SIT and SHUT UP! Sir.” He was dumbfounded when he saw the number of men crowded into the office.

“Any of you guys have handcuffs? I don’t and I want my lanyard back.” Someone, from somewhere shoved a set at him and Turnbull was able to put his lanyard back on. He no longer felt out of uniform.

He scanned the room for Kerri and found her partially obscured by a crowd of suits. Bulldozing his way through, he came to stand by her.

“You okay?” he whispered. “What is all of this?”

“All of this would be me.”

“Wal – I mean Superintendent Scott! I didn’t think, I mean I only wanted some time off –"

“You can’t tell me that my favorite girl is in trouble and then expect everything to go back to normal! But from the looks of this,” he said swinging his arms around the room, “this is anything but normal.”

Malone stood to introduce himself to the brightest spot in the room. “I guess you really knew how to fluster our suspect Corporal! That red serge will do it every time. I’m Patrick Malone, CAFC. You and your lady here got us the goods on one very pesky criminal.”

“Kerri did it Sir. I was just her backup. Oh! And you might find this useful. It was hidden in a fire sprinkler over the Administrative Assistant’s desk. Right in the middle of the action – as it were. Also, there is a Bluetooth surveillance camera hidden behind the window blinds in Kerri’s office. I doubt it will show anything useful, I just put it there on Sunday afternoon.”

“How in the world –?” Malone asked while studying the small device.

“One can see quite a lot when they just stand and stare.” Renfield stated matter-of-factly.

"Thank you Corporal! And whether just Kerri or both of you is responsible we got ourselves William Gaston, alias Reverend Billy Gaskin, alias Will Gaspar, alias –"

“We just call him William the Letch,” Renfield muttered.

“William the Letch, sounds like an ancient English king,” Malone said.

Malone went back to talking to Kerri and Renfield reluctantly left her to talk to the Superintendent.

“How is she Turnbull, really?” Scott asked. “And none of this beating around the bush stuff.”

“She’s been having panic attacks. She had one on Saturday right after I got there and I thought she was having a heart attack. The EMTs took her to the ER and the doctor confirmed that it was a panic attack. Apparently, she’d been having them for weeks. I think she suspected a lot more than she even told me about what’s going on here. But she didn’t know who to tell. After,” he turned away from Scott, “after I came back from undercover,” he sighed, “I didn’t treat her very well and she ran. Ran right here to Edmonton and right into this mess.”

From the earliest days when he’d first met Turnbull Scott just couldn’t see what Kerri saw in him. He was a doofus of the first degree and Scott could not believe he’d even survived Depot. And when they’d sent him undercover Scott had been unsure if the man would even survive. But he had and he had changed. What had happened to Turnbull and Kerri was no one’s fault and yet they had all suffered. Scott knew that even he’d suffered. He loved Kerri like a daughter and it just killed him that she didn’t feel she could seek him out for help with what Turnbull had referred to as ‘this mess’.

“Is she getting any help? Treatment I mean?”

“She just got the diagnosis on Saturday, so not yet,” Renfield sighed. “The doctor gave her some meds but they turned out to be too strong for her and she’s been sleeping about 20 hours a day. We cut the dosage down on Sunday and it seems to have helped, but she’s still having the attacks. She had one last night and I’m really worried about her right now. Once all of this is settled I’m going to make sure she gets professional help, that’s why I asked for leave.”

“Malone is going to want to keep her around for the rest of the day,” Scott said, “but let me see if I can convince him to let Kerri go and maybe they can meet tomorrow. In the meantime we need to lock this guy up. I don’t know if we’ve got anything specific to hold him – yet, but –"

“How about assaulting an RCMP officer for openers?” Turnbull winked at him.

Scott beamed at him. “Lock him up Corporal!”

Renfield went to Kerri and knelt on one knee as he whispered, “I need to take the prisoner to the local police station to lock him up. Will you be okay until I get back?”

Kerri looked panicked at first but then said, “okay. But hurry?” He kissed her on the cheek. Several Brooks Brothers in the room currently envied the RCMP corporal.

Renfield grabbed the nearest Brother with access to a car and they escorted the Letch, or Mr. or Reverend to the nearest police station where he could be detained for questioning.

After Renfield left the light in the room seemed to have gone out for Kerri. She knew that what she told them now was extremely important, but she was having a great deal of difficulty concentrating on the matter at hand. When Walter came up to them and motioned for Malone to follow him Kerri was actually relieved.

“I know you need a lot more info from her but Kerri’s not in the best of health. This whole thing has really gotten to her. You think you could hold off until tomorrow for the rest of the debrief?”

Malone hesitated. “She is at the center of this you know? But she has done a lot and the info from this camera needs to be reviewed, and there’ll be a lot more to come. Okay, have your Corporal take her home as soon as he gets back and then have her here tomorrow morning.”

Scott slapped Malone on the shoulder and said, “thanks.”

Malone muttered as he walked back to Kerri, “no, thank you. We’ve been trying to run down this SOB for a seriously long time.”

After depositing the Letch in a holding cell at the Downtown Police Service Headquarters Renfield and the Brother, whose name turned out to be Jeremy Dishner, made their way back to the Madison Building. As they drove back Jeremy decided to ask Turnbull some questions that all the Brothers were wondering about.

“The lady’s your wife, right?”

“Yes.”

“She’s really smart, but she seems sort of, I don’t know, fragile I guess.”

“She’s not been well. This whole thing has really taken a toll on her.”

“Superintendent Scott said she uncovered the whole thing alone. Didn’t even tell anyone. That’s a heavy load to carry. She’d probably do great undercover.”

“NO!!” Renfield’s shout almost caused Jeremy to run the car off the road.

“Jeez man you startled me!”

“Sorry,” Renfield sighed. “It’s just that I was undercover and I almost died. It’s the reason she and I are separated.” The weariness descended on him like a blanket.

Jeremy was silent for a long time. Finally he said, “I guess wearing the red suit isn’t as easy as it looks on TV.”

“No,” was all Renfield said.

They drove the rest of the way back to the Madison Building in silence, until, “Holy shit!” Jeremy exclaimed.

“Damn!”

Just as they were about to make a right turn to get to the front of the building they saw them – what seemed to be hundreds of television crews and reporters, with vans and cables and production lights and gawkers everywhere!

“One of the employees up there must have called the press! I can sneak in through the front pretty much unseen, but you! You’re going to stick out like a big red beacon. No way you’re getting back in there – at least not through the front.”

But Kerri’s in there, Renfield thought. “I’ve got to get back in there to bring Kerri out!”

“Maybe Scott can bring her out?”

“No way she’s going to make it through that.” Not without having an attack, he thought.

Jeremy parked the car on a side street, out of sight of the media and got on his phone.

“Boss,” he said when Malone answered, “we’re stuck out front. There’s a mob of press here and Turnbull’s worried about trying to get Kerri out through them. No way Turnbull’s getting back in there looking the way he does.”

Walter got on the phone and asked to speak to Turnbull. “Take of your tunic and put it and the Stetson out of sight. If you can put a jacket or blanket or anything you’ve got over your lap so that if any idiot looks into the windows they won’t see the breeches. Then come in the back of the building into the parking garage and wait at the service elevator. Where’s your car parked?”

Before he could answer Renfield heard Kerri in the background apparently answering Scott’s question.

“We’ll get your car moved as close as possible to the service elevator. Give us about 15 minutes.”

Scott yelled across the crowded room to Malone, “can one of your guys find a cleaning crew and get a lady’s uniform? Something that will come close to fitting Kerri?”

Roughly 15 minutes later a nondescript sedan pulled through a crowd of reporters into the parking garage at the rear of the building. The driver let his passenger out next to the service elevator just as a female custodian exited. The passenger grabbed a bag from the back seat and then he and the custodian got into the other car. The lady custodian gave the driver a large white hand towel which he spread over his lap. They then proceeded to pull out of the garage right back through the crowd of reporters, none of whom seemed to take much notice of the non-descript couple.

“I feel like I’ve just been broken out of jail!” Kerri chuckled.

“And I feel like I did the breaking!” He glanced over at her. “You did good!”

“We did good!”

“Are you doing okay?” he asked softly.

“Yes, I think I’m good. Sort of tired…where are we going?”

“We are going,” he said as he made an unexpected right turn, “right here. Courtyard Hotel.”

“Renny, why aren’t we going home?”

She didn’t realize what she’d said, but he did. And he was so thrilled he could hardly speak. “We’re going here,” he whispered as he pulled to a stop under the porte-cochere, “because we both need a good night sleep and neither one of us can do it in that house.”

He checked them in, making sure that their room had two beds. He wanted to be with her but their relationship was just too tenuous to have what Superintendent Scott had referred to as ‘bonding’. So, tonight, even though she had unwittingly called him Renny, there would be closeness but no ‘bonding’.

While Renfield was still at the registration desk he asked if they would send up room service for them. Just a couple of turkey sandwiches and one vanilla and one chocolate shake.

“We don’t have any bags,” Kerri giggled as they rode up the elevator. “They probably think we’re having some sort of one-night stand.”

“Me in breeches and a t-shirt and you in a cleaning crew dress? They probably think we’re rejects from a costume party! Besides, I’ve got a bag, it’s paper but a bag none the less.”

“But it’s in the car! And I’ve got my regular clothes under this awful dress.”

“So, we both have baggage. Boy do we have baggage!” he whispered.

Kerri looked at him askance and then smiled – slightly.

Kerri had once traveled a lot, and most always stayed at one brand of Marriott or another. She loved them because she always knew exactly what to expect. In both countries she could count on a comfortable room with very comfortable beds.

When Renfield unlocked their door she was not disappointed. The room was smaller than most she had stayed in, but since she had what she’d always referred to as a ‘black belt’ in hotel points she was always received an upgrade to the concierge floor. This time Renfield hadn’t known to ask and she really didn’t care – this room was just fine.

Once in their room Kerri plopped herself on the smaller bed closest to the bathroom and reveled in the comfort of a decent mattress. She stayed there just a moment before she sat back up. “If I lay here any longer I’m going to fall asleep.”

“Maybe you should? It’s been a hard morning and you need to keep up your strength.”

“But I want to spend some time visiting with you and talking about today and, and…”

She couldn’t think of any more ands but was spared the effort by a knock on the door.

“Room service!”

Renfield let the young woman in to place her tray on the table in the corner. He gave her a healthy tip and then she was gone.

“Hungry?”

“Ooh! A chocolate shake!” she cried completely ignoring the turkey sandwich and chips.

Renfield grinned at her. It may have been a while but thank God somethings never change. “Don’t fill up on that,” he teased, “you need to eat your sandwich too.” But he knew her and knew that more than anything else chocolate was her go to comfort food.

They sat for a while without speaking, just enjoying their food and the relief that the stress of this day was almost done.

“Maybe a little later we can go for a walk and maybe get an adult beverage?” she asked as she slurped the last of her shake through the straw. She thought she was being funny but apparently he didn’t get it. When he didn’t even look at her she knew something was up. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

“There’s something else I might as well tell you.”

Kerri couldn’t even imagine what else there might be so she didn’t even try. “Tell me,” she whispered as gently as she knew how.

He stood and walked to the window, staring blankly into the afternoon sky. “When I got back to Chicago, after the physical therapy I was still in a lot of pain. They treated me for that and it helped, but the emotional pain we hadn’t even begun to deal with…” he trailed off, his memories threatening to get the better of him.

Kerri waited silently hoping he could continue. He was beginning to really worry her.

Finally, “I guess you know all too well that I had a lot of trouble…coping with, with everything. At the time there wasn’t any one I could talk to…confide in. I started…drinking.”

She walked to him and took his hand. “To excess?”

“I guess you could say that,” he admitted. “I was picked up a couple of times for drunk and disorderly, but because the cops knew me and…and what had happened nothing ever went on my record.” He hesitated a bit before he squeezed her hand and whispered, “I’m sorry.” 

Kerri took him in her arms and rested her head on his chest.

“When I went to Ray’s he offered me a drink and I didn’t even hesitate –”

She looked up at him, “you didn’t get –"

“No, but I very easily could have. I can’t trust myself when I drink.”

“So, we won’t have an adult beverage. But we can still go for a walk, and maybe stop for a soda.”

Her matter of fact statement made Renfield smile. Sharing with her had always helped to put things into perspective.

“I don’t know if I will always have this problem –"

“But now you’ve admitted it and you can get the help you need to find out.”

They were both sure that it wouldn’t be that easy, but it was a start.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “you don’t need this right now. I’m sorry.”

Kerri tried her best to lighten his mood. “What I need right now is another chocolate shake. How about if I call –"

At that moment. their phone rang. “Maybe room service read my mind?” she asked as she went to answer.

“Hello?”

“Ah, Ms. Turnbull this is Valerie Jones, assistant hotel manager. I’m sorry ma’am but we’ve got a bit of an issue here. Our temp reservation clerk recognized you and Mr. Turnbull from the news and called the press to tell them you were staying here –"

“WHAT?” Kerri exclaimed, bringing Renfield to her side immediately.

“I apologize Ms. Turnbull. We sent them packing, of course. But there’s currently at least one news crew on the street outside. We will keep them from coming inside, of course, but we can’t control what they do off the property. I am terribly sorry.”

Kerri held the receiver so that Renfield could also hear Jones. He grabbed the receiver from her and spoke directly to the woman. “Ms. Jones, here’s what you will do. Station one of your trusted employees, emphasis on trusted, outside our door. I will be calling the CAFC and the RCMP and one or both will send someone to replace that employee as soon as they can. Keep someone at the elevator in the lobby to bar any press from trying to get up here that way. And I will expect to be notified as to what disciplinary action you will take against the woman who informed the press!” Renfield slammed the receiver down.

Kerri looked at him sadly, “I guess we won’t be taking a walk?” again trying to make a little joke that failed miserably. She slumped down on the edge of her bed, suddenly having a little trouble breathing. Renfield quickly knelt next to her but before he could speak she held up her hand to stop him.

“I…need…to…see…if I…can…control…this.” He watched as she closed her eyes and concentrated. He kept quiet and didn’t touch her – but he never left her side. After about a minute her breathing slowed and deepened. She had made it through on her own.

Still worried sick but somewhat relieved he tried to smile at her. “You did it!” he whispered.

“I did!”

Kerri reached for the phone as it rang again. “I think I’d better get this one.” Renfield grabbed the phone before Kerri could. “Hello!” he snapped. “Oh, sorry, Sir. I was just about to call you. Yes, we were just informed by the hotel manager.” He walked as far away from Kerri as he could get, given the size of the room. “Who in the hell,” he asked, trying his best to keep control in his voice that he definitely did not feel, “sorry. Who leaked our names –"

“Sorry Turnbull but pictures too.”

“Damn! How’d – where - who –"

“The same employee at McCord’s who called the press to tell them about what was going on was able to provide names of you two. Apparently the press got pictures from your Force files. Kerri’s from when she was a contract employee and yours from Depot.”

“Look Turnbull, we will try our best not to let the press upset Kerri. She just doesn’t need that right now. Local law enforcement is going to station a couple of guys, one in the lobby and one outside your room as soon as they can get someone over there. I’m sorry but for the time being you’re sort of ‘stuck’ in that room.” If he thought Turnbull might catch his sexual inuendo he was sorely mistaken. “How’s Kerri with all of this?”

“Overwhelmed, but she’s coping. Could you have someone go by her house and pick us up some clothes and stuff? We don’t have anything but the clothes on our backs.”

“You got it. Stay put, enjoy some alone time and I’ll call you in the morning.”

“Thank you, Sir.” When Renfield hung up he turned to Kerri – to find her curled up, asleep on the comfortable bed.

He found a spare blanket in the closet and covered her, kissed her on the cheek and brushed an errant lock of hair off her face. He smiled as he whispered, “I hope a little sleep will help ease the stress. I love you and I hope that someday soon…”

He drew the curtains closed just enough to keep the light out of her eyes but let enough light in so that he could see to move around without running into anything. Now that he’d accomplished those tasks what the hell else was he going to do? Ah! He thought as he spied the phone. That thing was loud enough to wake the dead. He took his cell into the bathroom and called the front desk.

“My wife is trying to sleep. If we get any calls tell them to call my cell. Anyone who needs to talk to us will have that number.”

“Certainly, Mr. Turnbull. Oh, and by way of apology we will be sending up complimentary dinners for you both. Just give us a call when you’d like to eat and we’ll send it right up.” Renfield was no longer angry with the hotel management so he thanked the woman profusely and hung up.

He sat down on the other bed and grabbed the TV remote. Turning the sound down to a barely audible level he watched reruns of Perry Mason, which he always found rather soothing. The cops always caught the wrong man, but there was never any violence and right always won the day. Then he watched Stargate and then Stargate again. By about 6pm he’d watched enough Stargate to wonder if maybe Jimmie Vickers really was seeing aliens on the 16W after all.

As Renfield was pondering aliens on 16W Kerri began to stir. She opened her eyes but for several moments didn’t know where she was or more accurately when she was. She’d been in so many hotel rooms similar this she thought, however briefly, that she was back at work and needed to get up and get going. But then she saw the man sitting on the other bed and knew exactly where – and when she was. Without moving she said, “hi.”

Renfield snapped off the TV and turned to her. “How long did I sleep?”

Through one Perry Mason and two Stargates he thought. “Not very long,” he said.

“At least I’m not sleeping as much as I did last weekend.”

“I think it’s was a combination of the meds and stress. Today certainly tops the stress meter though.”

“For both of us. But you certainly were in your element. I wish I could have seen you hog tie William!”

“Well – you may be able to. There was a surveillance camera planted in the fire sprinkler above the admn assistant’s desk. And the way we’re going it will probably be a YouTube video pretty soon, if it’s not already.”

“A camera? This whole time? Maybe it recorded more than just me!” Renfield nodded and Kerri was lost in thought for a couple of minutes. “Did you find out who ratted us out to the press?”

Renfield chuckled. “Ratted out? No not exactly but obviously someone in your office.”

She sat up slowly and pulled her hair away from her face. “I’m sorry I fell asleep I really wanted to visit with you.”

“Well we’ve got time to do that now. We’re not able to go anywhere for a while.”

“Are the press people still down there?” She went to the window to pull back the curtains but their view was just of the parking garage and high-rise buildings beyond. “Maybe they’ll get tired and go home?”

“One can only hope,” he thought aloud. “Are you hungry? Management is providing us with a complimentary dinner because of what happened.”

“Can we eat downstairs or would we be too much of a disruption?”

“Well, I’ll call and see.” This time Renfield used the landline. Since Kerri was awake there was no need to be extra quiet.

Ms. Jones answered his call. “Good evening Mr. Turnbull. How can I help you?”

“We appreciate your offer of a complimentary dinner but are wondering if we might eat in the restaurant, if it wouldn’t be too much of an issue.”

“Actually the dining room is basically empty right now. The news crews are keeping the walk-in traffic to just about nil.”

“Oh dear. We’re so sorry about that.”

“We certainly don’t blame you. I reassigned that clerk to the laundry, by the way.”

“Oh yes, my wife just reminded me. Could we have a bellman retrieve my uniform from our car? We sort of had to leave her office in a rush.”

“Of course! Anything we can do to help. Actually, I was just handed a note that a police officer dropped off a suitcase from your home. I’ll send Rudy up right now with that and then he can retrieve your uniform. That way you can come down to the dining room fully clothed,” she chuckled and hung up.

“She certainly was friendly.”

Kerri was frowning deeply when he hung up the phone. “Maybe we should just beard the lion, so to speak, and, I don’t know, just walk out there and see what happens?”

“NO!”, he almost shouted at her. “I’m sorry, but I will NOT let them upset you with their questions! You, we don’t have any idea what that might be like. Let Malone and Scott run interference for you. I can just stand around and look vacuous, I’m good at that, but you are right in the middle of this. There’s nothing the press would like more than to sensationalize a beautiful woman who is smart enough to take down a wanted embezzler.”

“Renfield, you really do give me too much credit –"

“No, you don’t give yourself enough credit! You are bright, savvy and intuitive. Don’t look at me like that! Everyone knows that about you. You told me once that I was the most perceptive person you have ever known. You, my dear are the most intuitive. You knew that William was up to something and if given a little more time you would have ferreted out all of it - by yourself. Do you know how much that room full of fraud investigators were awed by all that you’ve done – on your own? Jeremy, the guy who helped me get William to the police station, said that’s a heavy load to carry. Please! Please do not sell yourself short.”

Kerri was very humbled by his praise and honored that he thought so highly of her. “Thank you,” she muttered.

Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door. “It’s Officer Thomas. There’s a bellman out here who wants to talk to you.”

Renfield grabbed his car keys and answered the door. He took Kerri’s suitcase from Rudy and handed him the car keys in return. “I’ve got to be perfectly honest Rudy I can’t remember where I left the car, we were in a bit of a rush when –"

“I know where it is, Sir.” He lingered just a moment with obviously more to say. “We was watchin’ the TV news in the lounge. Good thing you did gettin’ that guy. My grandma has money with them!”

Renfield nodded at Rudy and the young man ran off to get the tunic and Stetson out of the car.

They went down to dinner dressed as they had been when they entered Kerri’s office that morning.

Renfield had regained his proper kit and Kerri had lost the vestiges off the Madison Building cleaning crew, but they still looked anything but an average couple sharing an evening out.

The hostess led them to a table in a quiet, dark corner far away from any prying eyes. After they were seated she took the time to light two candles before handing them menus. “Please enjoy your meal,” she said. “We’ll be sure you are left in peace.”

Renfield stared at Kerri in the flickering candlelight. Even though she still looked far from her normal, healthy self she looked much better than this morning, and far better than she had when he’d first seen her on Saturday.

“You’re staring at me,” she giggled.

“I’m admiring the view,” he smiled. “It’s a lovely view.” He had so much more to say, but just could not find the words.

They relished their ginger glazed planked salmon and sautéed green beans with very little conversation, just enjoying the companionship they had lost over two years ago. While they shared huckleberry cheesecake for dessert Renfield could tell that Kerri was more relaxed now and he hoped that he could claim partial responsibility for that.

Kerri watched him as he enjoyed his meal. She was grateful to God that he had shown up on her doorstep last Saturday. She wondered, very briefly, where she would be right now if not for him. William might very well have gotten away, literally, with everything and she could have very well been sitting in that holding cell instead of him. She found that melancholy was starting to creep in around the edges of her calm and fought to keep it away. For the most part she was successful.

Renfield saw the change immediately and was instantly concerned but heartened as he watched her fight to regain her composure.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he took her hand. “Tell me what brings these on? Maybe I can help?”

She ate a few more bites of the cheesecake and Renfield thought she might be evading his question. But then she asked, “when do you have to go back to Fraser Lake?”

The proverbial light bulb went on over his head. Of course! She was worried that he would leave her – again. Wasn’t that what he did, walk out on her when she was the most vulnerable?

He laid his fork down and squeezed her hand. “The reason I called Superintendent Scott was not to ask for help – I had no idea he would show up here with the cavalry. I called him to ask for a leave of absence from my posting. I knew you needed me. I just wanted to be here for you, unlike so many times before. I wanted to stay here and help.”

The look on her face broke his heart. The relief washed over her like a wave, washing away the heavy burden she had been carrying. When she smiled at him it was the first open, genuine smile he’d seen since he arrived at her home.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

While Renfield and Kerry were enjoying their dinner Scott, Malone and the all of the Brooks Brothers were working into the night trying to untangle Gaston’s trail of aliases, marriages and embezzlements. It was proving to be a tough job. But knowing how he had done what he’d done at McCord’s had potentially given them the key to the whole house of cards.

“Holy shit! Sir, come take a look at this!” One of the numerous unnamed Brothers in McCord’s office called Scott to his computer. “I’ve been tracing Gaston’s movements working backwards. This guy changes his name as often as I change my socks but look where I found him 5 years ago!”

“Seattle?”

“He was going by the name Garson and married a woman named Wayne. Lucy Wayne –“

“And?”

Brother #3 typed in a search for Lucy Wayne. “See this? Lucy Wayne born Aug 8 to Mary and Robert WAYNE!” Brother #3 had also gotten the attention of Malone, who joined the group staring at the computer screen.

Scott pushed the younger man away from the computer and began typing furiously, oblivious to the fact that the man almost landed on the floor. “Robert Wayne Consul General Canadian Consulate Seattle convicted of embezzlement 15 April. Approximately $1 million remains unaccounted for,” he muttered as he read the screen aloud. “Jeezus!” he exclaimed.

Malone was completely confused. “What’s the –"

Scott did another search and called up a private file. When the appropriate screen appeared he motioned for Malone to sit in his place. “This is the report that was sent to my office back then. The report that landed one RCMP officer and one Canadian government official in prison. A young contract auditor uncovered most of the scheme. Look at the name of that auditor on the bottom of the report. The person who uncovered the –"

“KA Howard?”

“And KA Howard is Kerri Ann Turnbull!”

Malone whistled. “She’s been on the trail of this guy for over 4 years!”

“And didn’t even know it! She may have just led us to the missing million bucks!! Or at the very least the person responsible for taking it. She could never find the missing money and I know it bugged her for a very long time. Robert Wayne was Gaston’s father-in-law, well one of many at least.”

“I wonder if she might like a piece of good news right now,” Scott thought aloud. “I’m not waiting she needs to know this!”

They were just walking back into their room when Kerri’s phone rang. She almost never got calls, so she was surprised and at first didn’t even recognize the ringtone.

“That’s your phone, aren’t you going to answer it?” Renfield joked.

“Oh! Hello?”

“Hi Kerri, it’s Walter. How are you feeling?”

“Actually I’m feeling pretty good. We just had a wonderful –"

“Sorry to interrupt but we’ve found something here that I thought you should know about right away!”

“Okay,” Kerri’s voice was filled with trepidation.

“No! It’s good news! Great news actually. You sitting down?”

“No, should I?” Now it wasn’t trepidation, she was actually scared.

“Remember Robert Wayne?”

“Yes…”

“You’ll never guess who was married to his daughter!”

Kerri decided it might be a good idea if she did sit down.

“Who?”

“William the Letch!!”

She was so stunned she could only choke out a “what?” in response.

Suddenly Walter wasn’t so sure he should have sprung it on her like this. “You okay?”

“Y-yes. I- I don’t know what to say. I always thought, I mean I assumed Wayne- but, his son-in-law? I heard his name during the investigation but I never met him.”

Walter was about to say something else when Kerri suddenly blurted out, “but that means that William – William might have – ! We might be able to prove – oh my God!”

Walter started to laugh. “This is a really big deal, Honey. Several of the CAFC guys are already at the police station. Malone will be putting together a press conference for some time tomorrow. How’s that for good news?”

“Thanks for letting me know…”

“See you in the morning.”

Kerri laid her phone down and sat very still for several moments, all the while Renfield staring at her waiting for her to tell him what was going on. Finally, “well, what the heck is happening!”

Kerri pushed her hair back with both hands and Renfield could see they were trembling. “Kerri, you’re scaring me! Tell me what’s happened!”

“I don’t even know where to start. I – do you remember that fraud case I worked in Seattle, 4 years ago?” Of course he remembered, she had been sick then too and had a miscarriage as a result. Well, that wasn’t entirely true but he wasn’t going to think about that right now.

“I remember,” was all he said.

“Well the Brooks Brothers,” she was really going to have to find out their names, “have figured out that William was a part of that too.”

“Wow! Wasn’t there a lot of money missing, that you could never find?”

“It was a huge amount of money and more than just the Embassy was involved. I was able to account for a large part of it, but there’s a million still missing. Walter said that the Brooks Brothers,” she was REALLY going to have to find out their names, “the Brothers are interrogating William as we speak.”

“Whew, what a day!” Renfield was pacing and in the small room and he started to make Kerri dizzy.

“Renfield can I ask a favor?”

He stopped mid pace, “of course!”

She stood up and said, “could you hold me? Just for a little bit?”

He drew her into his arms and said, “or longer, if you’d like.” He held her close and eventually could feel her stop trembling. She finally pulled away.

“You never told me when…”

“When?” and then he realized. “I asked Scott for a month. But that was before, before we knew just how involved all of this would become. I thought, well I’m not sure what I thought. But I knew if I could stay for a while I could help you to heal.”

He could see from her face Kerri was trying desperately to process everything he was saying. “Thank you,” was all she said.

Even though he was doing everything he could, everything he knew how to do, he suddenly felt he was failing yet again. Now it was Renfield’s turn to be tired, weary all the way down to his soul.

While Kerri sat on her bed again, running the Wayne case and all the rest through her mind, trying figure out how William fit into the puzzle, Renfield sat in the armchair in the far corner of the room. Within a few minutes he was asleep. It was only a few minutes after that Kerri dozed off as well.

They both slept that way for a while, resting from an overwhelming day, when Kerri’s phone rang, rattling both of them from their sound sleep.

Kerri, still only half awake, answered, “hello?”

“Kerri Turnbull?”

“Yes,” she might have been only half awake, but she knew she didn’t recognize the voice.

“Roberta Ruiz Toronto Herald here. My readers would like to know how you are involved in the embezzlement scheme. How long have you been aware that money was being syphoned from McCord –"

“How did you get this number! Please don’t call me again!”

Renfield was up like a shot and snatched the phone from her, but Kerri had already hung up.

“God damn son of a bitch!” Renfield shouted as he threw the phone as hard as he could against the far wall. It broke into several pieces, which flew all over the room. It took him a few moments to realize what he’d done and as soon as he did he covered his face with his hands and hung his head.

Kerri went to him and pried one his hands away from his face. “Please! Don’t do this I don’t want you to see me like this!”

Kerri had seen him this enraged only once before and she had seen then just what kind of rage he was capable of – but she had also seen how quickly it had passed. She prayed that this Renfield, the man changed by so much time undercover, would still respond as Renny had so many years ago.

“Renfield listen to me! Do you remember when Maria Sanchez was kidnapped? Remember how upset you where that you hadn’t been able to prevent that? Remember what I told you then?” He nodded. “You would not be human if you didn’t lose your cool once in a while. I’d prefer that you didn’t break my phone…”

“I’m sorry!”

“I’m not.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it means I can put my arms around you and hold you ‘til you calm down.”

He smiled the puppy Renny smile. “It may take a while.”

“Fine with me,” she whispered against his chest.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ray was the first to see it. After a very long day of chasing dead ends and filing out mountains of paperwork all he wanted in the world was to kick back in his recliner, have a brew and watch baseball.

He grabbed a beer out of the frig with one hand while aiming the remote at the TV behind him with the other. The remote slipped out of his hand and landed smack between the frig and the stove. He cursed his luck and tried to reach it. Further cursing and gymnastics only served to move the remote farther away. Finally he grabbed a broom and used the handle to try to drag the thing toward him. All he got for his trouble was an increase in volume to an ear drum piercing level and a remote that had moved – in the wrong direction.

He scratched his head in a vain attempt to figure out how to get the damn thing when something on the TV caught his attention. He hurriedly yanked on the frig to free the remote and then ran to look at the TV screen. Backing the program up he listened with shock as the reporter talked about embezzlement with pictures of Turnbull and Kerri superimposed over the guy’s shoulder.

He turned the sound down, threw the remote on the chair and grabbed his phone.

He started running and yelling as soon as the line connected.

“Thatcher.”

“Turn on the TV NOW!” he ordered as he ran out the door.

“What? Don’t shout at me Detective!”

“JUST DO IT!”

Now more alarmed than angry Margaret figured she’d better do as ordered. This better be good, she thought. “Figure skating?”

“Channel 6!”

“FRASER!” she yelled immediately upon seeing the screen.

Fraser came running at the sound of Margaret’s shout. “What’s –"

All she did was point at the TV. She backed it up so that they could watch from the where she’d turned it on.

The banner at the top of the screen read ‘Breaking News’.

“…Scott and Patrick Malone CAFC in several other cities. Taken into custody by RCMP Corporal Renfield Turnbull. The CAFC, working on information received from the RCMP and a McCord employee, Kerri Turnbull. At this time it is unknown if Ms. Turnbull is an operative for either organization. More information as it becomes available.”

Before either one could say another word Margaret hung up on Kowalski, who had already hung up on her, and placed another call.

“Damn! Her phone’s not working!”

“Call Turnbull,” Fraser demanded.

Margaret had to search for a few minutes to find his number. She knew he wasn’t in Fraser Lake, but where had she put it? She found the number for the bookshop, his old US cell number, their Chicago apartment land line, Kerri’s US cell number, even the number for the RCMP office in Fraser Lake, but no current cell for Turnbull.

Fraser sighed. “Look in your recent calls on your phone! He called you last week didn’t he?”

Margaret frowned at him and called the number in her recent calls log. She breathed a sigh of relief when the call went through.

“Hello.”

“Renfield! It’s Meg, What the hell is going on out there?”

Renfield sighed. “A lot, I’m afraid.”

“You’re going to have to expound on that Corporal!” she said as she put him on speaker.

“I stopped in Edmonton after I visited you in Chicago. Kerri was, was sick,” he admitted. “I had to take her to the ER –"

Ray chose that moment to come running into Thatcher’s office.

“What did you do ta her!”

“Hello Ray,” Renfield said sadly. “I didn’t do anything to her! She’d been having panic attacks but I thought it was a heart attack so I called the EMTs.”

"Corporal, we’ll talk about that in a minute. Right now we need to know about what we saw on the news! How are you and Kerri involved in embezzlement – to the point it makes the international news!”

“Inspector would you mind calling Superintendent Scott or Patrick Malone CAFC about this? We’re stuck in a hotel room and Kerri is trying to sleep and I, well I just don’t know how much more –"

“Corporal, is there anything we can do – anything you need?” Fraser asked, making both Kowalski and Margaret regret they hadn’t thought to ask.

“Thank you Constable Fraser I appreciate that but right now all we need is for this to be over. And I think that’s going to be a long time coming…”

“How’s Kerri?”

Renfield smiled. Ray was always concerned about one thing – Kerri. “She’s having a lot of trouble dealing with this. Her panic attacks are more frequent now, but less severe. I’ve been helping her work through them. The doctor in the ER gave her a prescription but it proved to be too strong and she was sleeping more than she was awake – and then – well then the shit just hit the fan.”

All three people standing in Thatcher’s office were stunned by the Corporal’s language, having rarely heard him use profanity.

“She gonna be okay?”

“I told her what you told me to tell her, Ray. I don’t know if that helped or hurt her even more.”

“Renfield? You’ll call if you need anything? We’re here to do whatever we can to help.”

“Thank you. There’s a press conference tomorrow we’ll have to be a part of that, so if you feel like praying I know that would help.”

“Please have Kerri call me when she’s able? I haven’t talked to her in a while and I didn’t even know she wasn’t well.”

“Thank you, Sir.” Renfield said and hung up.

Two sets of curious eyes turned to Kowalski. “Ray?” Fraser asked.

“What? He came ta see me too! I just told him ta tell her how he felt. I guess he did.”

Even though it was late Thatcher got right back on her phone to call Superintendent Scott.

“Scott here.”

“Superintendent, it’s Meg Thatcher. You’re on speaker with Constable Fraser and Chicago Police Detective Kowalski. We’ve just seen the news here in Chicago. May I ask what’s going on there? I just spoke with Corporal Turnbull and he asked that I contact you. We’re very concerned about Turnbull and Kerri.”

“Well, I’m not at liberty to tell you the whole story but suffice it to say Kerri got herself in over her head. She knew there was something going on here in the company and she was pretty sure who was involved but she couldn’t prove it. She kept at it until her target began to suspect. She was making herself sick but didn’t think there was anyone she could tell. Enter our Corporal Turnbull.”

“Did he screw everything up?” Kowalski asked, eliciting frowns from the other two in the room.

“Quite the opposite. He’s the reason our suspect is in jail!” Scott chuckled. “He told me that he was once told he could intimidate the hell out of a suspect by just standing and staring. He intimidated Gaston alright, right into assaulting him.”

“How is Kerri doing?” Fraser asked.

Scott sighed. “Having Turnbull here has been a God send for her. But he tells me she is having quite a few panic attacks. She’s not looking at all well. She’s been suffering on her own for over a year she didn’t have, or think she had anyone to turn to. I think Turnbull is eating himself up with blame. Those two just can’t seem to catch a break,” he sighed.

“Is that why the Corporal called you, for help with uncovering the scheme?” Fraser asked.

“No. He thought they could work it out on their own and then he could help her heal. He just wanted some leave. They had no idea how this mess would blow up. I’ve got to get back to work. We’ve got an army of guys trying to tie up the last of the loose ends to confront Gaston in the morning. We’re hoping to have a confession by press conference time, which, by the way, is 1pm our time – that’s what? Noon in Chicago?”

“Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Superintendent. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help? Good bye.”

Margaret hung up her phone with a huge sigh. “I hope she’s going to be okay.”

“I hope they are both going to be okay,” Fraser responded.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Renfield and Kerri stood in each other’s arms, in the middle of the room long enough for Renfield to relax completely. Eventually he realized he needed to free himself from her embrace, he was just enjoying her closeness a little too much and, he reminded himself – he must enforce his no bonding rule. So sadly, gently he untangled himself from her arms.

“I think we need to try to get a good night’s sleep, don’t you?”

Kerry looked into his eyes and she could see his desire. She could also see how much she was hurting him. They had always been so secure together, so comfortable with each other’s bodies. She could tell he yearned for that specal closeness again. But she just couldn’t, not now, not yet.

“Yes. We probably should.”

He turned from her and went into the bathroom. She dug out a t-shirt from the bag Rudy had brought them and changed standing by the bed. By the time Renfield came out of the bathroom Kerri was asleep.

He was right, he guessed. A good night’s sleep would help.

Chapter 16

**Wednesday**

The alarm on Renfield’s phone woke them at 7am, but neither of them moved, not knowing if they were prepared to face what this day might bring. Finally, Renfield looked over at her and asked, “you ready for this?”

“Well, I’m awake so that’s a start,” she said as she sat up. “The sooner I face this the sooner it will be over – I hope.”

They were showered, dressed and ready for who knew what when the phone rang.

“Hello,” Renfield said with very little enthusiasm.

“Good Morning Mr. Turnbull. Mr. Scott is here to see you.”

“Please send him up,” he sighed. “By the way, it’s Superintendent Scott, he’s proud of his rank,” he whispered to her.

“Thank you.” She turned to Scott, “you can go up Mr. ah, Superintendent.”

Scott smiled at her then headed for the elevator.

Kerri opened the door at his knock, noticing that the officer was still posted outside. “Would you like some coffee?” she asked the young man sitting there.

Kerri had just made some for herself but instead gave it to the officer. “Thanks, ma’am.”

She smiled and led Scott inside.

Kerri had taken the time to tidy up the room thereby allowing Scott a place to sit but he noticed immediately that both beds had been slept in and the tension that hung heavy in the room. He frowned briefly and then got directly to the point.

“This is not something I wanted to tell you on the phone,” he said looking directly at Kerri, watching her carefully. “Gaston confessed, about 5am.”

Kerri thought she might faint, but not from the onset of a panic attack, but rather from relief. Renfield was next to her in a flash as Scott continued to watch both of them.

“To everything?” Renfield asked.

“Almost. He is the worst example of a malignant narcissist I have ever seen. He still doesn’t believe that a mere woman, his words, not mine, was instrumental in bringing him down. Once we showed him what we could prove he happily confessed to that and more. He called them the perfect crimes. He was pretty upset with you, however.”

“Me? Why?”

“He truly believes he’s God’s gift to women but he just couldn’t seduce you.” This time he watched Turnbull. He saw his jaw clench and high color come into his cheeks.

“Was he involved with the Seattle…with Wayne?” Kerri whispered.

“We don’t know for sure. He hasn’t confessed, not yet. That’s one he is evasive about. One of Malone’s guys in Toronto has gone to the prison to visit Wayne.”

There was a pause in the conversation, a long pause. Finally, Renfield broke the silence. “So what happens next? Is there any reason to have a press conference now?”

“Oh, yes. Now more so than ever, but,” and now for the other shoe. “Malone wanted to give most of the credit to you,” he said looking directly at Kerri.

Kerri really did not believe she deserved much, if any, credit. But even more than that she didn’t want it. She just wanted all of this to be over.

“I think he’s right,” Scott said, “but –"

“Walter you know I’ve never done any of this for praise,” she sighed as she looked at Renfield. “I know that I don’t give myself enough credit.” Both of the men in the room thought she was about to cry.

“Please let me finish.” He smiled at her. “I know you very well, Kerri and I know you’d never claim credit for even the smallest part of this. So, I made a deal with Malone. He’s going to tell the press that it was the work of a RCMP CAFC joint task force and the instrumental help of one civilian which is all true. He will only provide your name if asked.” Which he most certainly will be, he thought.

“What can we expect it to be like, the press conference I mean?” Kerri asked.

“There will be a few reporters and a platform for Malone and the rest of the CAFC task force – the guys you met yesterday. And representing our team will be Turnbull and me, in uniform, of course.”

“Do I have to be up there too?”

“Of course! Pretty girl between to handsome officers in red serge?” When Kerri cringed he hurried on, “I’m kidding! Turnbull and I will make sure he’s right next to you the entire time.” Scott looked to Renfield for confirmation.

“Of course,” Renfield replied with very little enthusiasm.

“I’d like to step outside for some air,” Kerri said. “There’s an atrium off the lobby –"

“I’ll go with you,” Renfield stood up.

“I’ll just be gone a few minutes, I need to be alone a minute or two. Please? I’ll be right back.” She rushed out the door.

“What’s going on here?” Scott demanded once she was out of earshot. “Kerri seems much calmer, but you can cut the tension in this room with a knife and…” he pointed at the beds.

Renfield obviously didn’t what to talk about it but knew Scott wasn’t going to let him off the hook. “I’ve done everything I can think of to help her, Sir. She responds and then draws back. She seems like she’s enjoying my company and then suddenly I feel like she wants me to leave. I just don’t know what else to do.”

“I’m certainly no expert when it comes to women, but remember you only came back into her life last Saturday. That’s only 4 days ago! Thank God you did, but you came back right in the middle of all this. That’s a lot for both of you to handle. She’s overwhelmed and scared. Please, please don’t give up on her. She needs you and I think she knows it. After the press conference is over you two need to get away from here. Get her away from the press and notoriety.”

“I will, if she wants to,” Turnbull admitted.

Kerri was back, as she promised, in just a few minutes. Renfield knew it wasn’t air she needed so much as space – and time away from him. But he also knew that the Superintendent was right, he needed to not give up on her.

At roughly 10am Scott received a call. When he hung up he said, “your ride is here.”

“We’re not riding with you?” Kerri asked, panic in her voice.

“No, but I’ll be right behind you. You and Turnbull go with Dishner, ah, Jeremy and I’ll be there just a few minutes behind. Don’t worry your Corporal here will be right by your side and I’ll be his backup as soon as I can.”

They all went down in the elevator and met Jeremy in the lobby. The press had apparently given up on any attempt to waylay Kerri or Renfield for unguarded comments and moved on to greener pastures. The lobby and front of the building were blissfully quiet.

The press conference had been hastily set up in a large ballroom at the hotel were Malone and the Brooks Brothers were staying. Jeremy drove the car into the underground garage and parked in a space as near to the elevators as he could. But since Turnbull and Kerri were no longer the center of attention for this breaking scandal there was no reason to think they would be harassed by the press anymore.

Jeremy led them to a room adjacent to ballroom. The large room was full of people, hotel catering staff, people who must have been IT types and most, if not all, of the Brothers were there. Upon entering the room Kerri saw the crowd and staggered slightly but Renfield was right there, taking her hand and giving it a healthy squeeze. But even he was a little shocked by the sheer numbers of people.

One of the Brothers, #2 she thought, spied them and came rushing over. “This is really a bit much, don’t you think? It sort of takes your breath away!” If he only knew.

Kerri had regained her composure and smiled at the very young man. “Is this your first press conference?” she asked. When he nodded his head, she leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “me too! And it’s really overwhelming.”

Although she had whispered Renfield heard her and was very proud of the way, although obviously scared to death, she was able to put the young man’s feelings ahead of her own. That was certainly something that the old Kerri, his Kerri would have done.

“What is your name?” she asked.

“George Watson, I’m the newest guy here.”

“Hello George, I’m very pleased to meet you. I sure wish you guys wore name tags, I don’t know how to address any of you – except you and Jeremy!” That time Jeremy heard her and hurried out of the room.

Renfield led her over to a table loaded with all sorts of breakfast pastries, fruit and coffee and tea. “You really should eat something,” he said. “And some tea with milk and honey.”

“I’m really not hungry but I know you’re right. Could we split a croissant? Or you could have one and a half.” She grinned at him after seeing his face, he obviously wanted more to eat than a half of a croissant.

She grabbed two plates and loaded up one for Renfield and a much smaller one for herself while he went to get them two cups of tea. She found him at the far end of the long table, loading up one cup of tea with a lot of honey. “Wow, like honey much?”

“This one is for you! You need the extra carbs – don’t look at me like that! If you can drink a whole chocolate shake and still want another one you can have extra honey in your tea – for strength. EAT!” he commanded her.

Finally able to find a tall table where they could stand and have a place to set their drinks, they watched the crowd as they ate. Kerri was watching as Jeremy came back into the room and called all of the Brothers to a table in the farthest corner. They were all bent over something for a few moments and when they started to turn around Kerri could see each man wearing a sticker that said ‘Hello my name is…’.

One by one the Brothers came over and introduced themselves first to Renfield and then to Kerri.

Jeremy walked over after a few minutes. “Thank you,” Kerri said. “Just between you and me I’ve been calling you all the Brooks Brothers ever since I walked into McCord’s office.”

“I doubt any of us could afford one of those suits. But now you know our names and I think we’ve all been formally introduced.”

Renfield excused himself as Scott and Malone entered the room and motioned for him to join them.

Jeremy looked at Kerri as if he had something to say. “What?” she asked.

He hesitated, not really knowing how to ask. Finally, he said, “how do you do it? I mean how did you know, at least initially, that there was something wrong in the company?”

Kerri pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “Well, first of all I’ve had a lot of experience. I’ve been doing this type of work for several years, so I’ve developed a sort of sixth sense. All of you guys don’t have enough years in yet – you’re all, what, about 18?”

Jeremy laughed. “All except Malone – he’s like, old!”

Now Kerri laughed too. “Yes, but he has gathered a very good group around him. With age comes wisdom, I guess. Good Lord I can’t believe I just said that!” She continued, “I don’t like doing this, you know? Ferreting out people who are crooks? I am proud that I have the ability to discover and put a stop to illegal activities, but it’s just such a waste. When I uncovered the embezzlement in Seattle it made me sick that a good man, or at least he had once been a good man, hurt himself and his family just for the love of money. And what did it get him? If it hadn’t been me it would have been someone else who uncovered his theft.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, the Corporal told me that you have been unwell. Are you feeling better now?”

“Yeah, I think so. Renfield, that is, Corporal Turnbull has been helping me through it. It’s going to take a while longer, but seeing this whole mess come to a successful conclusion helps,” she admitted. “I just wish I could have found that missing one million in Seattle, it’s –"

Turnbull, Scott, and Malone picked that exact moment to walk up to Kerri and Jeremy. “I think I might be able to help you with that,” Malone said as he came up to them. “We’ve been talking to the Corporal and he agrees that this is something you need to hear, even before we meet the press.”

Kerri wasn’t thrilled that they had conferred with Renfield before talking to her, almost as if they were asking his permission but she understood why and knew they were all just concerned about her.

“What is it?” She looked from Scott to Malone and then to Renfield. None of them seemed concerned for her so she wasn’t worried.

“We’ve found out what happened to the Seattle money,” Scott said matter-of-factly. Then he burst into a great big grin.

Kerri was temporarily speechless as the Malone and Scott grinned at her. “Was it William?”

“No – not directly,” Scott admitted. “One of my guys, James Finney went to the prison in Toronto and talked to Wayne. Jim laid it all out for him, all the things Gaston had admitted to. Wayne was afraid of what Gaston was even before Gaston married his daughter. Wayne was already up to his neck in his own embezzlement at that point, and Gaston figured it out. Takes one to know one, I guess. Anyway, according to Wayne, Gaston blackmailed him. Wayne paid Gaston the million to get him to leave his daughter and get out of town. The only reason Wayne never admitted it to the Crown Prosecutor was he didn’t want to hurt his daughter. As if he hadn’t already.”

“So Wayne embezzled the money after all. I always thought…” Kerri muttered.

“And William didn’t cop to that because we never asked him! When we asked him if he embezzled the money and he said no he actually told the truth! I wondered why he smirked the entire the time we were questioning him about Seattle.”

“Do you know what happened to the money after William got it?” Renfield asked.

Scott responded to Turnbull before Malone had the chance. “Not yet, but we will.”

After finishing their plates Renfield went to get them another tea. While he was at the catering table a young woman came into the room. “We’re about ready to start. Are you gentlemen, and lady, ready? Please follow me?”

Earlier Jeremy had shown them a chart establishing where everyone would stand, so one by one each person took their place on risers behind a lectern with one fixed and one hand-held microphone. Malone and Scott stood by the lectern, most of the Brothers (they had all temporarily taken off their name tags for the cameras) stood on the right two risers and Renfield, Kerri, Jeremy, George and three other Brothers stood to the left.

Kerry did not look up until she was firmly stationed in her spot – but when she did she gasped, softly but it was audible loud and clear to Renfield. He grabbed her hand and gave it yet another healthy squeeze.

What Kerri saw when she finally looked up was not at all what she expected. Both of them had expected ‘a few reporters’ as Scott had told them there would be. He was sorely mistaken. What they saw was a sea of digital cameras, telephoto lenses, TV cameras, a whole lot of lights and people standing everywhere. This was not an organized, everyone had a seat, raise your hand to ask a question press conference. It looked to them like it was going to be unorganized chaos.

Finally, Patrick Malone stepped up to the microphone. “Good afternoon,” the camera flashes started, almost blinding the people standing behind the lectern, not to mention the person standing at the lectern. “My name is Patrick Malone, Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. With me here at the lectern is Superintendent Walter Scott RCMP. Behind me are members of our joint CAFC RCMP task force. I will make a brief statement as to why we’ve called you here today and then will open the floor to a few questions.”

All of the flashing was very disconcerting to those who were their focus, especially to those on the risers who were experiencing this for the first time. “Acting on information provided to the RCMP by a former civilian RCMP forensic accountant this task force was assembled to investigate what at first was deemed to be localized fraud. Once this team began its investigation it was determined that the embezzlement was deeper and more widespread than was originally thought, covering several provinces and two American states. The suspect has been detailed and has confessed.” A TV screen behind Malone displayed a mug shot of William as Malone continued. “The name he is using currently is William Gaston. He has also operated under the aliases Reverend Billy Gaskin, in US state of Georgia, William Garson in Seattle Washington, and Will Gaspar in Ontario. There will likely be others as this investigation continues. We are asking for the help of Provincial authorities and United States local law enforcement to help identify other areas as yet unknown where he might have operated. We have also been in contact with the US FBI White Collar Branch. I will now open the floor for questions.”

Renfield and Kerri watched as what seemed to be a thousand hands go up and almost as many people started talking at once.

Scott had taken the lectern at that point and he pointed to the first reporter.

“What is the financial extent of the crime?”

“At this point we do not have an exact figure however it is probably in excess of 10 million dollars.”

Someone in the crowd yelled out, “Is that US or Canadian?” Everyone in the room, with the possible exception of those standing on the risers, laughed.

“Canadian,” Scott answered straight faced.

Scott pointed at yet another hand. “So you’re saying that at least 2 states and 2 provinces are involved at this point?”

“Yes. But it is possible that there will be others.”

And another hand. “Exactly what charges have been laid against Gaston?”

“At this point only one charge has been officially laid – assaulting an RCMP officer in the conduct of his duties. More charges will be forthcoming later today.”

And another. “How did the RCMP and the CAFC become involved?”

“I was contacted by an RCMP officer and I brought in the CAFC.”

And another. “What’s the name of the officer.”

“Corporal Turnbull.”

“Could you spell that?”

“C-o-r-p-o-r-a-l –"

A smattering of laugher rippled through the crowd of press people.

“Funny. Last name please,” the reporter said.

“T-u-r-n-b-u-l-l.”

Scott pointed at yet another hand. “Where was Gaston before he came to Edmonton?”

“We believe that after Seattle he laid low for a while before coming to Edmonton.”

“Who is the forensic accountant who uncovered his activities here in Edmonton?” Another reporter asked when Scott pointed at her.

“That would be Ms. Kerri Turnbull,” Scott nodded at Kerri, looking at her with eyes that said ‘sorry’. “Do you want me to spell that one too?”

Again Scott garnered a smattering of laughter.

“I think I’ll remember,” she answered. “Ms. Turnbull are you still affiliated with the RCMP? How did you become involved with this case?”

Scott took the handheld mic to her and, with his back to the cameras, mouthed ‘sorry’ again.

When Kerri took the mic from Walter her hand shook slightly. “No, I am no longer employed by the RCMP. However I learned much of my investigation techniques from Superintendent Scott. I just took those skills into the private sector. I became involved because Gaston was working right under my nose.”

Another female reporter asked, “Ms. Turnbull, is the cute Mountie your bodyguard?”

Kerri hesitated just a moment. “Well,” she searched for the right words, “he’s my husband, so I guess you could say he’s my body…guard.” That cracked everyone up, including the Brothers, Malone and Scott. And the stoic Mountie standing stock still – well that earned a slight smile.

Scott took the mic back and said, “Corporal Turnbull is also responsible for apprehending our suspect.”

He walked back to the lectern and let Malone answer the rest of the questions, which droned on for another ½ hour. To his credit Malone let a few of the Brothers field one or two questions, thereby giving them a little TV time and some bragging rights with the family back home.

Finally, their time was up and Renfield and Kerri were amazed that it had passed so quickly. What they had feared since they’d heard the words press conference wasn’t nearly as bad as they’d thought it would be.

Since they had been the last ones to enter they were the first ones to escape. Heading back to the room behind the hall Renfield grabbed her hand. “So I’m your body…guard, hmm?”

Kerri blushed and thought she might just regret telling that to the world.

They walked into the almost empty room to find the long table laid with a whole new selection of food. As the Brothers and Scott and Malone came in the table was mobbed by the men who appreciated a free meal.

Scott sought them out as soon as he entered. Grinning at Kerri, “you’re a natural, you know? Body…guard indeed! I love it. And Corporal – I thought that little smile was going to crack your face! Talk about the stoic Mountie! Well done, you two.” He turned away as one of the hotel staff called his name.

“Do you want something to eat?” Renfield asked her. “It looks like there are cold cuts and salads.”

“Maybe some macaroni salad if they have some?” she asked. The tall tables have been replaced with a couple of sizes of round tables so she chose a smaller table and sat toward the back of the room, away from the buffet. She watched as Renfield moved around the buffet table, several Brothers greeted him with a pat on the shoulder or an elbow in his side. She was embarrassed because she was sure they were commenting on his being a body…guard. She still had no idea why in the world she’d said that.

She found herself staring at Renfield. She had never seen him in any other uniform than his red serge. Now she knew he wore the standard RCMP policeman’s uniform, grey shirt and navy blue trousers. She found that hard to imagine, he looked so handsome in red serge. She smiled as she remembered the very first time she met him. At the Canadian Consulate in Chicago.

She was there to perform a standard audit and he had been ordered to stay out of her way. She thought back and realized she had loved him from about the second day. The first day she had thought that he was putting her on – no human like him could possibly exist in nature.

He was so different now. His time undercover had almost killed the Renny he had been, but if the last 4 days had shown her anything it was that far from being a different man, he the same man made better and stronger by the experience.

She was so deep in thought wondering what Renfield and Malone were talking about that she didn’t notice that Walter had come to her table. “What are you smiling at?” he asked.

Startled, her smile vanished. “I’m sorry! Please smile again, it lights up the room!”

“Walter, you’re a tease!” She felt that little tinge of melancholy and fought to control it. “I was thinking about Renfield, how much he’s changed. He’s so much different than the man I met in Chicago and certainly different than the man I married.”

He patted her hand. “You are going to give him – the new man – a chance? Aren’t you?”

She just smiled.

“Now who’s the tease?” he said. He left her alone when he saw Turnbull heading her way.

“There wasn’t any macaroni, so I brought you potato salad. Is that okay?”

“Sure, thank you. I saw you talking to all of the Brothers. You seem to fit right in with all those other law enforcement types.”

“I am a law enforcement type, just not their type,” he sighed.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“No. Absolutely not.” But his lack of enthusiasm concerned her.

“Did you ask Malone how much longer we need to be here?” she asked as she picked at a passable potato salad.

“No, but you can ask him yourself.”

Kerri looked up to see Malone and Scott walking toward them.

“Good news!” Scott announced.

“William?”

“Yep! Oh, he never admitted it but –"

“You traced his bank accounts!”

Scott looked at Malone who in turn looked at Turnbull. “I told you she was smart!” Scott said to Malone.

“Once we had the starting point and a few leads, we got lucky.”

“Oh, I doubt luck had anything to do with it,” Kerri said. “How much?”

“All of it.”

“So it’s over,” Kerry sighed and the relief seem to wash over her.

“You two about ready to get out of here?” Malone asked. “Griffin can take you back to your hotel.”

Kerri looked at Renfield hopefully, “could we walk? I’d really like to.”

All three men looked dubious. “I’m still wearing the big red beacon, do you think we should?”

Kerri looked like a disappointed little girl. “Even if we’re accosted by reporters, which I don’t think we will be, I think we can handle it. I think we proved that earlier. Please?” she pleaded with Renfield.

For as long as Renfield had known her he had never been able to say no when she looked at him like that. “Okay, I guess. But if we see any reporters I’m going to hide behind you!” Renfield relented.

Scott thought briefly that it those two didn’t start bonding soon Turnbull was going to self-combust.

They grabbed their coats but before they left Malone called after them. “We’ll be in touch!” and to Renfield he said, “think about it?”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

While Kerri and Renfield were eating potato salad and cold cuts their friends in the Windy City were watching a time delay of the Edmonton press conference. The Consulate satellite system allowed them access to news feeds from most of the major cities in Canada, but sometimes it took a while to get connected, which was the case this time.

“Here it comes!” Margaret yelled to Fraser and the man who always seemed joined with him at the hip.

They watched as the feed started just about the time George, Jeremy, Kerri and Turnbull stepped onto the risers.

“There they are!” Ray exclaimed just a little too loudly.

“Oh, my Turnbull looks very nice.”

“Well, Kerri doesn’t. She looks awful!” Again Ray was just a little too emphatic.

“Ray, Turnbull told us she’s been ill. That’s got to be the reason.” But Fraser had to agree, Kerri did not look at all well.

“He’d better be treatin’ her right,” Ray muttered.

“Everyone quiet! They’re starting.” Thatcher commanded.

While the other two were listening to Malone’s opening remarks Ray was focused intently on Kerri. She looked to him to be scared to death. And sick. How the hell could Turnbull let her stand up there in front of all those reporters and cameras when he knew how she was feeling was beyond him. He wished, not for the first time, that he’d never let her get away. She would have never gotten this sick if he’d been taking care of her!

He temporarily lost his concentration when a guy in a Mountie suit handed her a microphone. She seemed so scared and Ray could see her hands shake. But then she seemed to gain her composure and began to answer the reporter’s question. Ray hadn’t heard the question but watched intently as Kerri spoke. “No, I am no longer employed by the RCMP. However I learned much of my investigation techniques from Superintendent Scott. I just took those skills into the private sector. I became involved because Gaston was working right under my nose.”

Ray listened to her voice and watched her eyes. Her voice was strong – stronger than he expected and her eyes, well they seemed to shine as she described her role in the whole deal.

Then another reporter asked her if the Mountie was her bodyguard. Ray was surprised at her response, but he was shocked at Turnbull. He’d been standing there looking like a granite statue but when Kerri spoke his eyes sort of lit up and when she called him her body…guard he actually cracked a smile.

Ray had to admit it, they still loved each other. He could see it in their eyes. Sad but true - for him.

As Thatcher and Fraser continued to watch the news conference Ray said, “I’m outta here,” and he was gone.

Thatcher paused the TV and asked Fraser, “what was that all about?”

“I’m not sure,” he muttered. “But I think perhaps seeing Turnbull and Kerri together was too much for him.”

When Ray left the Consulate he decided he needed to clear his head and do some thinking so he did what he always did – he got in his car and drove, and drove, and drove. No particular direction – just forward. He thought about a time when they had all been friends, Turnbull, Kerri and him, a time when they were, mostly, happy. Then he’d been given the chance to love her and she’d given herself permission to move on – to him.

But it hadn’t worked out and he was left alone. Watching them at the press conference told him what he’d already known, but refused to admit, Turnbull and Kerri belonged together, always had always would. He could tell they were going to make it but that didn’t make how he felt any different. He loved Kerri, always had always would.

So now he knew he had a decision to make. He could pine for her for the rest of his miserable life or he could move on. Accept the fact that the woman he loved loved someone else, keep them as friends and move on. Today he decided – move on!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Renfield and Kerri walked for hours that afternoon, dodging people on crowded sidewalks, looking in store windows and for the most part forgetting how unseasonably cold it was. Renfield teased her about stopping to gape in the windows of every shoe store they passed and Kerri elbowed him in the side every time he tipped his hat to teenage girls who giggled at the cute guy in the Mountie suit. They grabbed soft pretzels from a street vendor and sat in a small coffee shop sipping tea and munching on their pretzels.

They walked through Hudson’s Bay at the City Centre Mall and decided to pick up a few small gifts for their friends in Chicago and something special for Water and Patrick. Kerri wanted to get a little something for the officer who had spent the entire night outside their hotel room door protecting them from those, as she put it, awful press people. Renfield tried to explain to her that the cop was just doing his job, but he also agreed that it was probably the most monotonous job any cop could be assigned – sort of like standing stock still and staring in front of the Canadian Consulate for hours at a time.

So, they left the Bay with a scarf for Meg, a Dryden fountain pen for Benton, an ‘I love Canada’ sweatshirt for Ray, and a couple more fountain pens for Walter and Patrick. Kerri found an ‘I break for donuts’ sweatshirt for the officer who had protected them. Renfield thought that it was silly, but she liked it, and that was the most important thing.

They continued to walk aimlessly just enjoying the peace of knowing the ordeal of the last few days had come to an end – for the most part, and the peace of being in each other’s company. They were standing outside a sporting goods store, Renfield admiring the snowshoes in the window when he remembered – “Kerri! I’m so sorry! With all that was going on I forgot to tell you that I talked to Meg, Fraser and,” he hesitated for a brief second, “and Ray. I told her you would call when you could.”

“Did you call them?”

“No, they tried to call you after they saw that news break –"

“All the way in Chicago!”

“Apparently we were pretty big news,” he admitted. “I’m sorry I forgot to tell you.”

She nudged him with her shoulder and then put her head on the same spot, which was the best hug she could give him given that her hands were full of shopping bags. “We’ve had a lot on our minds. OH! I just realized I need a new phone! Mine got, um, broken.” Renfield hung his head as she hurried to continue, “I never liked that phone anyway!” And with that she dismissed the whole incident.

They found a phone store in the next block and Renfield insisted on paying for her new phone. “I want this case too,” she smiled at him. “Isn’t it cute it has butterflies on it!”

He and the clerk both grimaced and he bought that too.

By about 6pm it was dark, very cold and they were both very hungry. Right around the corner from their hotel was a Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and since they were in the mood to put the day behind them they decided that is where they wanted to eat.

When they walked in they could see that they could expect a long wait. As Renfield went to put their names on the wait list a gentleman seated with many others waiting for a table spoke up, loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Aren’t you the folks from the press conference, the ones who uncovered that embezzlement? You saved a lot of people in the city a lot of money. Give them our place in line!”

“Ours too,” a woman agreed.

“Hell, put them at the front of the line!” Everyone seemed to agree. “Their drinks are on me,” yet another man said.

Kerri was totally embarrassed but Renfield, who could not tip his hat because he was holding it, nodded his head and said, “thank you kindly,” to no one in particular. They were seated immediately.

Their table was way in the back, not a particularly great location, but it was out of the way and quiet enough that they could hear each other. Immediately the sommelier came to them with a bottle of wine compliments of the guy in the lobby.

Kerri spoke up first. “I’m very sorry but we don’t drink. Could you let the gentleman know that we are very grateful for the gesture?”

The wine steward smiled. “May I suggest a bottle of sparkling water? I will give Mr. Robertson your message.”

“You know you don’t have to forego alcohol just because of me.”

“I just wasn’t in the mood for wine.” Which wasn’t exactly true, but she resolved right then that she would never drink again in his presence. If Renfield couldn’t, she wouldn’t either.

Their waiter came to ask if they would like an appetizer and Renfield was immediately pulled out of his temporary funk. “We’ll have funghi cappelle infarcite to share,” he winked at Kerri.

“He’s just teasing, it’s actually –"

“One stuffed mushrooms it is.” The waiter winked at her too, and all three of them laughed.

They sipped their sparkling water and sat in silence as they waited for their mushrooms to arrive. They may not have spoken but they were far from uncomfortable.

Finally, Renfield spoke up. “Do you realize you haven’t had one panic attack since yesterday?”

“Yes!” she didn’t feel the need to mention the attack that had started and then quickly abated earlier in the day. “You are directly responsible for that!”

“I don’t think –"

“I do! You told me I don’t give myself enough credit. You don’t give yourself enough credit either.” She set her water glass down and looked at him. “I haven’t been able to say this properly since we left the ER.” She screwed up her courage so she could continue, “thank you for saving me.” Before he could object she hurried on, “I honestly don’t know where I would be right now if you hadn’t showed up on Saturday. I could have fallen on that broken glass and bled to death – okay that’s probably an exaggeration, but I could have at the very least been seriously hurt.” She kept going before she ran out of nerve. “William could have gotten away with,” she started to tear up and knew she had to hurry and get this out, “with everything. He could have framed me and I would be in jail now rather than him. I know, as surely as I am sitting here, that I did not have the strength left to bring him down on my own.”

“All I did was make a phone call –"

Tears started to spill down her cheeks. “ALL you did was support me and help me and…and love me. You did everything you knew how to do to keep me going.” She looked deeply into his eyes and said earnestly, sincerely, “thank you.” She grabbed her napkin to wipe away her tears.

Before he could respond their appetizer arrived. “I didn’t want to interrupt, you two looked like you were talking about something very serious, but I can take your order now, if you’d like."

“I’ll have the house salad with raspberry vinaigrette, filet, medium rare, loaded baked potato, asparagus and,” he looked at Kerri who nodded, “make that two of each. We’ll think about dessert later.” They had been apart for a while but together a long time and Renfield knew some things never changed – like what they would eat when in a nice steak house.

“These mushrooms are almost as good as yours,” Kerri commented as they munched on them. “But yours always were the best.”

Renfield was caught in a sort of fog as he realized she did indeed appreciate everything he had done – but she still hadn’t said she loved him. And after all of this there really wasn’t anything else he could do to prove himself – so she probably never would.

After their dinners were delivered Kerri became even more concerned. As Renfield had done several times over the last few days when Kerri slipped into melancholy it was now her turn to ask, “is everything okay? You’ve hardly touched your food.”

“I just suddenly lost my appetite, I guess,” he said as he poked at his steak.

“Aren’t you feeling well? Would you like to leave?”

“No! I wouldn’t want to waste all of this wonderful food.” He tried to remind himself of what the Superintendent had said to him earlier in the day. It had only been four days and he needed to give her a chance. He had hurt her badly and he shouldn’t expect for that hurt to evaporate just because he wished it so. So, he sucked it up, as his detective friend in Chicago had said so often and dug into his steak.

Kerri tried to chat, about Meg and Fraser or the antics of Dickens, Cameo and their puppies and Renfield tried his best to become engaged, but the conversation had become so forced Kerri stopped trying. They decided against dessert and so Renfield asked for the check.

“This one is on the house,” the waitress said. “Our chef has money invested with McCord and when he heard you two were here, well, you get idea. Thank you for all you did.” Kerri knew that their waitress was speaking to both of them, but the young woman never took her eyes off the handsome Mountie.

Renfield left the woman a very large tip and they started toward the front. Seated to their left as they exited was the gentleman who had sent them the wine. Looking up he lifted his glass to them and Renfield nodded.

Their walk back was very cold but mercifully short. Once inside the lobby they shivered a little and then took off their coats. Coats, gloves, shopping bags and one Stetson proved to be more than two arm loads but Rudy was there to help.

They carried all of their things to their room and Kerri unlocked the door. She was the first in and hesitated momentarily.

“Kerri, turn on the lights.”

“Sorry I couldn’t find the switch,” she said as the lights came on.

Rudy placed all the parcels on the desk and bade them goodnight. Kerri hung the do not disturb sign on the door and then switched the lights back off.

“Kerri, it’s dark –"

She walked up to him, took his hand and led him to the window saying, “come here there’s something I want you to see.”

The curtains were open only slightly so she drew them back the rest of the way to reveal a beautiful view. City lights were all around them, but through the tall buildings shone a full moon, casting its silvery glow through the window and on to the bed.

“Do you remember that night in your first tiny apartment? The first night we were together?” she whispered.

“Yes,” he responded, rather confused.

“Do you remember what we did?” she stepped closer and began working the top button of his tunic.

“Ah, yes,” he answered, very slowly as she moved even closer. By now she had the top button undone.

“Tell me,” she breathed as she began to work the second button.

“We made, um, love um, in the moonlight.”

“Do you remember why?”

Her hot breath on his neck almost caused him to melt. “Mmm,” he breathed.

“Why we made love.” She dragged her hands away from his buttons and brought them to his shoulders sliding them around to the back of his neck bending him down until their lips met.

She broke their kiss to ask again, “why?” she breathed against his cheek.

“I forgot the, ah, mmm, the question.”

She pushed him away just slightly and looked up at him. “We made love because I wanted to show you how much I,” now she was breathless, “just how much I love you. That small sliver of moonlight I saw before I turned on the lights reminded me of just how much, how much...”

“How much you love me?” He asked between nuzzles on her neck.

“I love you Renfield,” she whispered.

He swept her into his arms and carried her to the bed where they made love just like their first time, in the light of the silvery moon.

Renfield awoke very early in the morning, instantly aware that Kerri wasn’t beside him. He sat up to see her, wrapped in a blanket and staring out the window into the darkness. He didn’t even hesitate but went to her.

“Are you okay?” he whispered. “You’re not having –"

“Just a little one,” she nodded.

He sighed and pulled her to him. “I’d hope that, maybe, well…”

“Finally acknowledging how I felt would ease them?”

“Yes.”

“I’m disappointed too,” she admitted. “But I guess it’s going to take more than just our closeness to make them go away completely.” Nodding toward the messy bed she smiled, “but that certainly can’t hurt.”

“Can I come in there with you?” he asked, teasing at the edges of the blanket.

She opened it to him and wrapped him in her warmth. “Certainly can’t hurt.”

Chapter 17

**Thursday**

It was late when they awoke, at least later than either of them had slept in a couple of years. Of course it had also been a couple of years since they had spent the night in the same way as last night.

“I can’t believe how late I slept," Renfield said as he sat up and stretched. "I’m usually up with the sun, of course at home during the winter the sun comes up pretty late.”

“How about we be really decadent and order room service? I feel like we could use a little pampering.”

Renfield grinned at her, the special grin that only they shared. “You don’t have to call room service to be pampered. I can do that without ever getting out of bed.” He reached for her but she scooted away and stood up, presenting him with a marvelous view. He patted the spot that she had just left, “please come back?”

“How about some breakfast and then…” she pointed at the same spot.

Renfield grinned yet again and slipped on his jeans. “Okay, but remember you promised.”

They ate pancakes with maple syrup that Renfield had been trying for years to get her to use – if for no other reason than it was the patriotic thing to do. He grinned at her as she enjoyed every bite. They had come close to finishing their breakfast when Renfield’s phone rang.

Renfield thought, briefly, about not answering but knew it might be important, even though the caller ID didn’t look familiar. “Hello?”

“Corporal, it’s Meg. I’m sorry to bother you but I can’t reach Kerri and I really want to talk to her. We’re worried here –"

“She’s right here Inspector. Hold on.” He handed the phone to Kerri and said, “I’m going to take a shower so you can have a little girl talk.” He kissed her on the top of her head as he walked by.

“Meg! I am so sorry I didn’t get back to you! Things have just been crazy here and then Renfield and I, well –"

“What in the heck happened there? The news conference made you two look like heroes.”

“You would have been so proud of Renfield. He provoked William into assaulting him – without doing anything! He just stood there unblinking until William exploded!” she laughed.

“Wait! Wait! First of all who’s William? The embezzler?

“Sorry, yes. We had to figure out a way to keep him in check, not let him get away. But we didn’t know the cavalry had arrived! Renfield had called Walter because he wanted some time off to help me with my panic attacks –"

“About that – how are you feeling? All of this must have wreaked havoc on your health? I have to admit we didn’t think you looked all that well at the press conference.”

“Renfield is helping me so much! Just having someone to share the load of all of this has helped. I –"

“You should have called me! I don’t know what I could have done, but at least we could have talked!”

“I’m sorry. I just convinced myself that I was on my own. The way I felt when I left Chicago I just felt I wasn’t worth anything.”

“I hope you don’t believe that anymore!”

“No. I don’t think I ever truly believed it. It’s just what with Renfield and Ray and all that happened I sort of left Chicago ah, I don’t know, beaten I guess.”

“But you’re better now! And Turnbull has been helping. Are you and he, I mean, you looked I don’t know, close at the press conference. I know you didn’t touch or anything, but…”

Kerri giggled. “There’s been a lot of touching since.” Then she blushed.

Meg was thrilled for them. “I am so happy for you two. You’ve had so much go wrong, maybe now something will go right!”

“Could you not say anything? You can tell Ben, but ask him not to say anything to Ray? I need to be the one to tell him, somehow.”

“Are you coming to Chicago?” Meg asked hopefully. “You said Turnbull had some time off and you probably don’t have a job anymore, so maybe you could come to visit. We’d love that.”

Kerri hadn’t even thought – she didn’t have a job anymore. Or at least she doubted she did.

“Maybe we should. Renfield won’t be thrilled with my talking to Ray, but I have to at least try.”

“What happens next with the embezzlement? Have they found all of the money? Superintendent Scott didn’t make that clear.”

“They’ve found all that they know to look for but won’t give up looking for other aliases and locations. That’s why Patrick Malone asked for the help of Canadian and US authorities. I’ll have to testify and possibly Renfield, but that might be a long time coming. Except for the assault of a police officer. Like I said, you would have been proud of Renfield.”

“It certainly sounds like you are! Our Constable has certainly changed –"

“That would be Corporal!”

They chatted on like that for several more minutes all the while Renfield avoiding girl talk by hiding in the bathroom. It took him 5.45 minutes to shower but Kerri chatted on and on and on. He could not fathom what they had to talk about that could possibly take so long, but they just kept talking! Finally at the 15 minute mark he started making noises announcing that he was ready to come out. It took a full 5 minutes more before he poked his head out the door and found Kerri still in deep conversation. He was getting awfully tired of being cooped up in that small room with the heat and the steam, so reluctantly he came out, making enough noise to ensure she heard him.

Thankfully – “It sure has been good talking to you too. Yeah, we’ll talk about it and let you know.” And she hung up.

“Did you two have a nice chat?” he said. That took forever, he thought.

“It was so nice to talk to her. It’s been awhile but it seemed like just yesterday that we were together.”

Renfield noted her state of undress and immediately remembered what she had promised. He came up behind the desk chair where she was sitting and started to massage her shoulders.

At that moment, his phone rang again. “Drat!” If that’s the Inspector I’m going to – “Hello!”

“Turnbull? It’s Scott. Having a bad day?”

“Sorry sir.”

“How’s Kerri feeling this morning?”

She feels wonderful, Renfield thought. “She feels, uh, fine Sir.”

Hmm, Scott thought. “Could Malone and I meet with the two of you this morning? We have a few loose ends to tie up.”

Renfield was extremely disappointed, apparently there would be no special bonding for them this morning. “Certainly, Sir. Do you want to come here and meet in the lobby? There’s a small business center conference room where we could sit out of the lobby traffic.”

“Fine, how about 11:00? And then we’ll buy us all lunch.”

Renfield looked at the time and then, sadly, at Kerri. “We’re meeting them downstairs in a few minutes.” He looked at her and pouted.

“What?”

“There’s not going to be time for –" He inclined his head toward the bed, words failing him.

Kerri giggled. “Think about it – there’s going to be lots of time for our special closeness. Now that we’ve come together again.”

Renfield sighed and Kerri did not at all care for the look that passed through his eyes. She set her worry aside while they both got dressed.

A few minutes before 11:00 Renfield and Kerri made their way downstairs. Finding Malone, Scott and another man they had not yet met waiting for them they made their way to the small conference room at the far end of the hotel’s business center.

Once they had all taken a seat Scott apologized. “Sorry. Corporal Turnbull, Kerri Turnbull this is Thomas Rigby.”

Rigby stood to shake Kerri’s hand and then turned to Turnbull who also stood to shake the hand of the man across the table from them. “It’s nice to meet you, Sir.”

“Let’s dispense with the formalities, I’m Tom.”

“So here’s what we’ve got,” Malone started unloading mounds of paperwork from two file boxes.

“Gaston, or my name of preference William the Letch, has confessed to 7 counts of embezzlement, 5 counts of wire fraud, illegal transfer of funds internationally, 4 counts of bigamy –"

“Four!” Kerri blurted out, immediately embarrassed by her outburst.

“He’s actually been married 5 times but the first wife, who lives in Georgia is the only one that is legal, since he never divorced her.” He went back to the list he had before him. “There are numerous lesser charges, ending with assault of an officer of the law in conduct of his duties.” Malone looked up at Turnbull, “I still wish I could have seen you handcuff the Letch with your lanyard,” he muttered. We need to write that into a training manual – how to use your pistol lanyard to restrain a suspect, Malone thought.

“Now, what we need to ask you, Corporal is if you are willing to drop the assault charge? Before you answer let me explain. All of the others are Crown charges and the Crown Prosecutor is willing to make a deal with Gaston. A reduced sentence if he will forego a trial. Understand me here, Gaston is such a pompous ass he really wants the notoriety of a lengthy trial but is also drooling over less prison time. The RCMP and CAFC would dearly love to drag his butt through the mud, but we would also like to save the Canadian people the cost of a trial. The only sticking point is the assault charge. That is something you, Corporal will have to give us permission to drop.”

“I think,” Renfield said, “that Kerri also needs to have some input into this decision.”

“I don’t think –" Kerri started, but Renfield interrupted.

“You are the only one of us who has had to put up with actually working with the man. He made your life miserable for several months and was a major contributor to the current state of your health.” 

“Yes,” she said, “but I’m not the one he knocked to the floor while wearing your beloved red serge. This decision is entirely yours. If it were up to me I’d have him drawn and quartered.”

Everyone in the room smiled – except Renfield. He was the only one who knew she was not kidding.

“Well then,” Renfield sat a little straighter and announced, “I am willing to drop the charge.” Especially since William had been provoked, Renfield thought.

“Thank you, Corporal,” Scott said.

“We will need written statements from both of you, as detailed as possible –"

“That won’t be an issue for Kerri,” Scott said. “She wrote the most concise yet detailed reports I’ve ever read.” There was a slight wistfulness in his voice that was not lost on Turnbull.

“And now,” Malone pushed a mountain of paper at Kerri, “could you look through these, in your spare time, to see if you can spot anything my guys have missed?”

Renfield was up instantly pushing the mountain right back at Malone. “No, Sir. Kerri needs some time away from this! She needs to –"

“Wait!” Kerri demanded. “Wait,” she said a little more quietly. “Renfield this is like light reading for me. I’m going to assume that I have some time for this?” Malone nodded.

“I’m inclined to agree with Turnbull,” Scott said. “But, if Kerri thinks she’s up to it,” he hurried on before Turnbull could jump down his throat, if by his current expression seemed likely, “AND her doctor thinks it’s okay, then I’m on board with it.”

Kerri grabbed Renfield’s hand to keep him from breaking off the piece of table he was gripping far too forcefully. “I promise all of you I will not allow myself to become obsessed with this.”

Renfield sat down and buried his face in his hands.

“So you’re an overachiever?” Tom asked, smiling at Kerri.

Renfield sighed. “You have no idea!”

“I guess you could say so,” Kerri admitted. “It’s sort of been an issue between Renfield and me for a long time.”

“How about since I’ve known you?”

Malone packed up the boxes and asked, “what do you want us to do with these? Do you want them sent to your house?”

Kerri opened her mouth to speak but Renfield beat her to it. “No! Just leave them here and we’ll have them sent up to our room.”

“How about some lunch?” Scott asked. “There’s a great Italian place a few blocks over. We could walk,” he hesitated. “What’s with this weather? I thought it would be warmer than this by now,” he muttered as they all put on their coats.

As the five of them left the conference room Renfield rushed ahead to ask the front desk clerk to have dreaded files moved up to their room. En masse they left the hotel to brave the cold walk to the restaurant. As they walked Tom fell into step with Kerri and they chatted.

“How long have you been with Walter, I mean Superintendent Scott? I don’t remember hearing your name before.” Kerri said.

“Well, I’ve certainly heard about you! The Superintendent speaks of you often. Everyone tries to live up to your model.”

Kerri rolled her eyes. “I wish he wouldn’t do that! I’ve always worked hard, but I really don’t think, that is, I’m just good with numbers.” She hoped Tom would leave it at that.

That was not to be, however. “How long did you work for the Superintendent?”

“He recruited me right out of university and I worked for him right up until I met Renfield.”

“About 10 years then?”

“About that, I guess.”

“Did you enjoy your work?”

“Yes, mostly,” she admitted. When Tom gave her a questioning look she continued, “I enjoyed the auditing, but I found a few issues that ruined people’s lives. I really didn’t like that at all.”

“But you uncovered illegal activities, you weren’t the one who committed the crime.”

“Yes and I know that it was important work. I just am sorry about the things that drive people to steal. I remember one Inspector who was a gambling addict. She lost everything, her job, her home, her family, everything. That’s the part I didn’t care for.”

“So you would let them off the hook if it were up to you?”

“NO! Absolutely not! I guess I just don’t see these things in black or white. It’s probably a good thing I’m not a police officer,” she sighed.

“So you’re a forensic accountant with a heart?”

“I used to be.”

“Would you do it again? Audit?”

“I’ve thought about that, especially after I left Chicago. But no, I couldn’t stand all that travel anymore. I’d love the accounting work, but not the travel.”

“You traveled all over the country?”

Kerri was beginning to feel like she was being interrogated. “Yes,” she answered, “and a few cities in the US, where there are consulates.” She was getting very tired of talking about herself so she asked, “where did you start your RCMP career?”

“New Brunswick. Not many jobs to be had there so I joined the force.”

“You’re a long way from home. Have you been with Walter long?”

“Long enough to have heard lots of stories about the great Kerri Ann.”

“Good grief! No one has called me Kerri Ann in years. I think Walter was –"

“The last?”

“Just about.” She realized that she was becoming a little breathless and fought to regain control. If Renfield had seen her just then he would have known exactly what was happening, but fortunately he was walking ahead of them and was deep in a discussion with Malone.

“You okay?” Tom asked.

“Yes,” she said while fighting to control her breathing, “just getting a little cold. This coat really isn’t adequate when it’s this cold out. I should have planned ahead I guess but I didn’t hear about this cold snap.”

“Well here we are, let’s get you inside.”

Once they were inside the cozy restaurant Scott flashed his badge and they were seated immediately. Kerri thought that the badge or red serge certainly had its privileges.

They were seated at a large table and given their menus. Once everyone had ordered and their menus were taken away they sat and talked for several minutes.

Suddenly Scott looked up to see Kerri covering her mouth with her fingers, trying in vain to conceal a huge grin.

“What are you grinning at?” he asked, hoping he wasn’t going to be at the receiving end of some silliness.

When Renfield looked up at her he was just thrilled to see the old Kerri, with laughter in her eyes.

“I was just remembering a time many years ago. I was fresh out of university and attending my first RCMP Finance Department meeting. There were about 15 of us who went for lunch –"

“Lord, not this again,” Scott muttered.

“Anyway, there I am the youngest, the only woman AND the only non RCMP officer at the table. I think there was the head of the budget office, head of STATS programing, the Assistant Director, head of IT and a few others I can’t remember, the Director, that would be Walter, and me. I was scared stiff the entire time. Once the meal was over the waitress brought the check, the total check. No one had thought to ask for individual ones. The budget guy says don’t worry we’re all finance managers we’ll figure it out. So here they are Walter and all these big shots and not one of them had a pocket calculator and that was back in the day went most of us didn’t have cell phones. So they are trying to do the math on a napkin, tearing holes in it and starting again. I had never seen anything so funny in my life. And here’s little old me with a calculator in my purse. It took me about a minute and a half to have the whole thing figured out but I’m afraid to make them all look foolish. So I waited – I swear I thought Walter was going to climb onto the table to get at that napkin! Each one saying things like, “NO! You carry the 1. So, I slowly put up my hand and everyone ignored me. Then I said ‘I’ve got the answer’ but no one heard me –"

“So then she stands up and says ‘if you would all just shut up and listen to me – I’ve got the answer.” Walter said. “That’s when I knew I’d made the right decision in hiring her.”

Renfield watched her as she was reciting her story and was so proud of her he wanted to pop. Oh, how he wished he had heard that story years ago!

As Walter watched, Renfield leaned over and whispered in her ear, “I love you.” Walter knew right then that the bonding had begun, the smile that he had just seen her give Turnbull’s whisper was definitely that of a woman in love.

When their lunch was over and the bill was paid they all trouped back to the hotel. There wasn’t much conversation and their gait was quick due to the change in the weather. It had become much colder and none of them wanted to dally.

They said their goodbyes in the hotel parking lot and Walter and the others left. Kerri was about to hurry into the lobby to get out of the cold when Renfield stopped her. “Could we go next door to the Starbucks? I’d like a coffee.” he asked.

“It’s cold out here couldn’t we just go up?”

“I’d really like to go over there, please?”

Kerri hunkered down into her coat even farther and said, “let’s hurry!”

They rushed into the building and relished the warmth of the place. “Now that we’re here I may never want to leave!”

Renfield led them toward the back and they found a table far away from the few customers there were at this time of day. When they sat Kerri finally figured out why they were there.

“What’s on your mind?” she asked gently.

“I’m going to order a coffee, do you want anything?”

I want you to tell me what’s up, she thought. “I’ll have an apple juice with Oprah chai syrup,” she said to Renfield’s complete confusion. “Just tell them that, they’ll know what it is.”

He walked to the counter as Kerri frowned at his back. She’d known something was up for a couple of days, but there just had never been a chance to ask or for them to talk about it. She had learned a very long time ago not to start worrying too soon. Quite often it wasn’t anything to worry about, so she wasn’t worried. Concerned, maybe, but not worried.

Renfield came back to their table and perched on the edge of his chair waiting for his name to be called. And Kerri waited for him to tell her whatever he had to tell her.

She waited a couple of minutes and finally repeated herself. “I asked you what’s on your mind?”

He was about to open his mouth when the barista yelled, “Renfro.”

“I think that’s me,” he chuckled. He was up again and Kerri was getting miffed. This was taking almost as long as her old 3 phased Renny’s got a problem method.

Finally, he returned with their drinks and sat in the comfortable chair. He sipped his coffee in silence for a couple of moments and then asked, “aren’t you going to drink your cider?”

“It’s too hot and anyway I’m waiting!”

“For what?”

If Kerri had been standing up she would have stamped her foot. “Please tell me what’s on your mind,” she said measured and very slowly.

“You know me too well,” he admitted, “and I have been stalling. I really don’t know how to tell you all of this…”

Now was the time for her to start worrying. “Just tell me.”

He decided to just spit it out. “Patrick Malone offered me a job.”

Kerri’s eyes grew huge and she was at a loss for words.

Renfield chuckled. “I know, sort of unbelievable isn’t it?”

“Oh no! That’s not why I was shocked! I’m thrilled! You have done so much and learned so much and grown –"

“Well I must say you weren’t as shocked as I was.”

“What would you do for him? Wait! Would you have to leave the RCMP? You wouldn’t be a Mountie anymore?” She just couldn’t imagine Renfield without his red serge.

“He wants me to be in charge of my own team –"

“You’d be a Brooks Brother?” Kerri grinned at him.

“No, not exactly. I’d still be on the Force, but just not in uniform. I’d be a RCMP liaison to the CAFC. And I wouldn’t necessarily travel with them, not as a matter of course, anyway.”

“Wow! I am so impressed and so thrilled,” she started to tear up and chuckled. “Wait! Does that mean you’d receive a promotion?”

Renfield grinned at her over his coffee cup and nodded.

Kerri laughed. “I am so thrilled for you I don’t even know what to say.” But then she frowned, “but what about Fraser Lake and all of your friends and –"

“I’ve been thinking for a while that I need to move on. I love my job there but I’ve seen so much and there’s a whole big world out there that I feel like I’ve been hiding from. I’d be sad to leave but I’m thinking it might be time.”

“So you haven’t accepted yet?”

“No. Not yet,” he hesitated. “See there’s a part two of this package.”

What could possibly make him hesitate? She thought about it and then knew. “Me?”

Renfield nodded seriously.

“What could I possibly have to do with your promotion?” Just that word made her proud.

“Well,” he hesitated again. “You see, um…”

“And suddenly you become inarticulate?”

“Sorry it’s just there was a little subterfuge going on and I didn’t want to mislead you.”

“Someone was lying to me? Why?”

“Not lying…exactly. It’s just that Superintendent Scott wanted to ask you about something, but he was concerned about your health. So he talked to me first.”

Renfield stared at her closely at if to ensure she wasn’t going to bite his head off, but apparently she was still just confused.

“You see, uh, Walter is going to retire –"

“That’s wonderful!” she exclaimed. “He’s always wanted to spend more time with his grandchildren! Oh! This is so exciting! But why would my health be an issue?”

“Well that’s where Tom Rigby comes in. He’s actually Inspector Rigby and he’s Walter’s second in command. He has already been tapped to step into Walter’s shoes.”

Kerri was still confused. “That’s great but I still don’t see –"

“They want you to be Rigby’s second in command.”

Kerri actually choked on her apple cider. She coughed long enough for Renfield to become alarmed but as soon as he stood to try to help she held up her hand. “I’m okay,” she coughed. When she finally stopped coughing she started to laugh. “Sorry,” she said while clearing her throat, “now tell me what is really going on.”

Renfield could not believe that she didn’t believe him. “Kerri it’s true! Walter had Tom come out specifically to meet you. I was ordered not to say anything and I’m sorry for that. But you are Walter’s pick. I don’t know yet about Tom.”

“But, but I,” Kerri couldn’t even think.

“If you were about to say you are not qualified don’t take my word for it. You’re Walter’s choice.”

After all these years of second guessing herself Kerri still expected someone to see through the façade, to find out that she really wasn’t as good at her job as everyone seemed to think. But now, maybe at last she could accept the fact that she was indeed worthy of the respect everyone seemed to heap upon her.

“I’m really Walter’s choice?” she whispered.

Renfield beamed at her. “Please start giving yourself the credit you are due?”

They sat for several minutes studying their drinks, each lost in thoughts of all that was happening. Finally, it occurred to Kerri, “there’s only one thing. We’re not a package deal, are we? I mean if I decided not to accept the position that wouldn’t mean that you –"

“Absolutely not! I asked Malone that very question. Each of us is being offered the positions on our own merit, not because of who our spouse is! I had much the same reaction as you. I couldn’t possibly think of how I could be good enough to manage my own team of accountants and fraud investigators. But Malone told me that he didn’t have any financial background when he took over his position. He already had law enforcement experience and just needed the know how to surround himself with the best men or women for the jobs. He thinks I have the potential to do very well. Like I said, no one was more surprised than me. And you, well apparently you’ve been Walter’s choice for several years. He told me that he’d never forgiven me for stealing you away from him. But…”

“But what?” Kerri asked.

“Walter and Tom want to talk to you, of course. But that’s just –" He watched a change come over her. And instantly became worried. “You not having another –"

“No, but could we go back to the hotel? I’ve got something to say and I really don’t want to say it here.” She stood up and starting walking toward the door before he could respond.

It was only about 100 metres from the door of Starbucks to the lobby door of the hotel but Renfield lived a lifetime in that short walk. He wasn’t sure exactly what had caused the change in her, but he knew he had pushed her too hard and now she was drawing away again and that scared him.

They made the trip across the parking lots, through the lobby, up the elevator and down hall to their room without speaking. Once at the door however, Kerri couldn’t find her key card so it was necessary for Renfield to speak, “here, let me.” But that was all.

Once they were in their room they shed their coats, hats and gloves and Kerri walked to the window, keeping her back to the worried man. He wanted so badly to take her into his arms and soothe her troubles away in his embrace, but he knew better.

Finally, she began to speak, in a voice soft, far away and without emotion. “These last five days I have let you completely take over my life. And I am grateful for that. You saved me in more ways than I can count. You were there for me to lean on, to cry on, to bring me through the panic attacks, to offer me your love, your body and your soul. And, I’ve said it before, I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been here, I could very easily been in jail if it hadn’t been for you.”

Renfield wanted to speak but knew that now was the time for him to be quiet.

“When you went undercover and I was told you had died I died too. Not just a part of me, but all of me. I ceased to exist. For a very long time I didn’t want to live anymore. I have never told anyone this, not even Ray but twice I came very close to ending it all.”

Renfield felt his knees go weak and was forced to sit down.

“The only reason that I didn’t is that both times I was interrupted by Ray. He never knew how he had saved me. It took me a year of walking around in a fog, sort of like being brain dead. And then one day the fog lifted and there he was, just like he’d always been ready to help me with whatever I needed. He loved me and he never left me. I loved him for that.

“If you had really died I think Ray and I could have healed together and we would have been happy. I loved him in a way that was very different from the way I loved you. I loved him because I never doubted that he would always, always be there for me. He had proven that to me over and over again for that first year.

“But then you came back, broken and hurt in ways I could never imagine. I wanted to go to you and hold you and comfort you and heal you with my love. And you rejected me. I turned back to Ray for the comfort that, more than his love, his friendship had given me over the last year. But he rejected me too.

“When I left Chicago I had no idea what I was going to do. I came here because I owned that rundown old house full of trash and bad memories. And I felt I deserved it. If the two men I loved more than life itself didn’t want me then I must be worthless, at least that’s what I told myself. I haven’t lived since I heard you had been killed I’ve just existed.”

Renfield stood to object or hold her or run out the door, he didn’t know which, but did none of them. He sat back down as she continued. “I got the job at McCord’s because William had plans for me – I know that now. He figured he could have his way with me and then place all of the blame for his crimes on me if it ever got to that point.

“Then you come back into my existence and save the day, literally. And today you tell me I’m being offered the position of my dreams. Second in charge of a huge financial operation. Move with you to Toronto and live the high life. Sort of ride off into the sunset with my savior.

“And you tell me I don’t give myself enough credit. Maybe that’s true but you sure couldn’t prove it by me – not after all that’s happened over the last few years.”

She turned to face him, seeing his face for the first time. It was wracked with pain and white as a sheet. “I’m sorry if any off this has hurt you. I didn’t mean for that to happen, I know that what happened back then and all of what’s happened since is no one’s fault. It’s just what happened and there is no blame to be placed on any of us. But you can see, can’t you, that I can’t just pick up and move with you to Toronto? I love being loved by you so much and love you so much in return. But this is all happening too fast, it’s just more than I can deal with so quickly.”

She went to him and knelt by the chair taking his face in her hands. “I love you Renfield Turnbull. That love has always been my life. But I need some space. I want to go to Chicago –"

“To see Ray?” he asked, feeling his life and his love slipping away.

Seeing the look in his eyes broke her heart. “Yes. But not for the reason you’re thinking. I need to put things right with him – or at least try. And I need some time to think.”

“So I can’t come with you?” For a brief moment she saw the old Renny, the childlike, needy man who Renfield had once been.

“No, I really need some space. Please?”

“Okay,” he tried to smile, “you can go, but I won’t like it.”

Kerri left the next morning.

Chapter 18

**Friday**

Kerri arrived at O’Hare late in the afternoon. She really didn’t like the idea of afternoon traffic, but she had lived in Chicago long enough to know how to deal with it, so she rented a car and drove directly to the Canadian Consulate. She hadn’t told anyone she was coming, having made the decision on the spur of the moment. So she wasn’t sure if she would find either of the people she sought. It didn’t occur to her until she pulled up in front that she might run into Ray.

Not seeing his car was a good sign, but she decided to call before just barging in anyway.

A woman, whose voice she didn’t recognized answered the phone. After waiting for the English and French spiel the Constable introduced herself. “Constable Hunt here.”

Kerri flashed back, very briefly, to a time when Renfield would have been the Constable answering the phone. “Hello Constable, my name is Kerri Turnbull and I am trying to get ahold of Inspector Thatcher. Is she available?”

“Is she expecting your call?”

“No, I’m sorry, she is my friend and I’m here in Chicago for a visit and –"

She was interrupted by the Constable speaking to someone else. “There’s a Kerri Turnbull on the line for the Inspector but –"

“Kerri!” Fraser exclaimed as he snatched the phone away from the younger Constable. “How are you?”

“Ben, it’s so good to hear your voice. I’m good, but I’m sitting outside right now, freezing and well…”

“You wanted to be sure Ray wasn’t here. Come in – the coast is clear,” he teased.

Kerri chuckled, sometimes dense and sometimes perceptive she just loved Benton.

He opened the door and drew her into a brief hug, surprising Kerri and really surprising the other Constable. “Welcome to Canada,” he smiled that gorgeous smile that had first won her heart several years ago. “Actually, I guess that would be welcome BACK to Canada.” He led her passed Meg’s door and to the back of the building, to his office.

“Isn’t Meg here?” sizing up his living situation very quickly.

“Ah, no, she’s in Toronto for a couple of days.” Hurrying on he asked, “what brings you here, unannounced? Although you certainly don’t have to announce yourself before coming for a visit, if that is indeed why you are here. I mean – am I blithering? I’m just very glad to see you. Is Turnbull with you?”

Kerri chuckled at the nonplussed man in red serge. “First of all, a little. Blithering I mean. Second of all, no Renfield is not with me. And third of all I am here for a visit to see you and Meg and, and well…”

“Ray?”

She just nodded. “He’s not on his way here or anything?”

"No.”

“How is he?” she asked trying to hide the emotion behind the question.

“He’s doing well, I think. He was a little shaken watching the press conference. That was really something, by the way. How did Turnbull get involved in all of that?”

Kerri smiled deeply and Fraser could see the look of a woman truly proud of her man. That was something he rarely got to see for himself. “He stopped by to see me in Edmonton after he was here and he just sort of fell into a mess. You wouldn’t have recognized him, Ben. He just took over and handled everything for me.”

“He told us that you have been ill?”

She sighed. “Panic attacks. Renfield doesn’t even know this, but I started having them shortly before I moved to Edmonton. Not bad at first, but later, after I discovered the embezzlement they got progressively worse. I didn’t even know what it was until Renfield had me carted off to the emergency room. It’s a good thing he did.”

“Are you getting treatment?”

“I have medication that’s helping, but I need to get therapy. I haven’t started that yet, there just hasn’t been time,” she admitted. “There’s just been too much going on.”

“So what brings you to Chicago now? It’s been, what, a year?”

“I miss all of you terribly and seeing Renfield just emphasized that. But, well, I need to see if I can put things right with Ray. Do you think he’d see me?”

He considered his response for several moments. “If you ask him first then no,” he admitted. “If you just show up at his apartment I don’t think he’d turn you away. But are you sure you want to do this, with your health and all? Maybe you should wait?”

“I’m not seeing him just for him, I need to see him to clear some things in my head. I’ve got a big decision to make and I just feel like I can better decide after I’ve cleared the air with Ray.”

“I happen to know he’s home right now. Come on, I’ll drive. No! Not to come in with you. I’ll wait downstairs.”

“To make sure I don’t upset him?” But she knew he would be there for either one of them, if needed. “You’re a good friend, Benton Fraser. To all of us.”

“I try to be.”

"You sure you'll be okay waiting in the car?" she asked as they pulled up to the curb in front of Ray's apartment building.

He gave her the 'do you know who I am' look and Kerri chuckled. She squared her shoulders, took a deep breath and rushed up to the entry doors.

She stood outside Ray’s apartment for a very, very long time. She knew she had to do this, she’d come over two thousand miles to be here. But now that she was here she didn’t know if she could go through with it. She’d convinced herself that she had to talk to Ray but convincing Renfield had hurt him deeply and that was something she would forever regret.

Ray’s friendship had once been very important to both of them but after the dynamic between the three of them changed, friendship seemed to be a thing of the past. Finally, when she knew she shouldn’t keep Benton waiting much longer, she knocked.

She heard him coming and was instantly afraid, of what – well she didn’t know.

“Hello Ray,” she said softly as he snatched open the door.

He stood staring at her for a full minute before she finally said, “do you have a moment to talk to me?”

He slammed the door in her face.

So stunned she did the only thing she could, she started to cry and slowly turned to walk back down the hall. Halfway to the stairs she could not go any farther and leaned against the wall for support.

She was only there a few seconds when someone took her into his arms. She stood sobbing onto Ray’s shoulder for a few moments before he released her led her into his apartment.

Once inside he grabbed some paper towels and helped her dry her tears.

“I’m sorry I made ya cry!” He’d promised himself a very long time ago that he would never be the cause of her tears. The very last time he has seen her she’d left in tears and now – well now he’d done it again.

“I am NOT crying!”

“The hell yer not. Just let me say sorry, okay?”

“Okay,” she said. And then she started to become breathless. “Dammit!” she muttered trying in vain to catch her breath. She plopped down into the closest chair.

Ray was immediately alarmed. First at her language, he’d rarely heard her swear, but then at her gasping and holding her chest.

“What can I do!” the fear evident in this voice.

“Wait,” she whispered, “I can do this…”

Ray was good at many things but waiting was not one of them. He watched for about 10 seconds and then dropped to his knees next to her. “Tell me what to do?”

“Hold my hand,” she gasped. “It helps to center me.”

It took about 5 minutes, but slowly the attack subsided. “I am so sorry,” she gasped.

She looked so mortified and so cute Ray wanted to hold her again. But he knew that was never to be, so he moved almost as far away from her as he could get. “That’s what Turnbull was talkin’ about? Panic attack?” Kerri nodded. “Scary stuff. You were havin’ them before he went to see you?” She nodded again. “Musta scared the hell outta him.”

She smiled at him. “I think it did.”

“Good thing he was there – to help.”

Kerri came back to herself and looked at him. The last time she’d seen him was over a year ago and though he looked the same on the surface she knew his face very well and she could see the subtle changes. And she did not at all like those changes. The set of his jaw was harder and his eyes had lost their ever present devilment. There were probably only a few people in the world who could see it, but she certainly could. He wasn’t the same. None of them were the same.

“What did you wanna talk about?” he asked after watching her stare at him for an uncomfortable amount of time.

“I wanted to, to, ah –"

“God you sound just like Turnbull! Spit out!” he barked at her.

“I’m sorry, okay!” She yelled at him. She jumped up and started pacing. “I’m sorry you were hurt! I’m sorry you wouldn’t let me say sorry a year ago! I’m sorry that Renfield left and then came back. I’m sorry I ran off to Edmonton without trying harder to tell you I’m sorry!”

Ray was becoming alarmed that she was going to work herself into another attack.

“But what I’m most sorry about,” her voice dropped at least two octaves, “what I’m most sorry about is that I’ve lost your friendship!” And now for the crux of the matter. “Is there any way you and I can be friends again?” she whispered, “I miss you.” She sat back in the chair with a thud, she had completely run out of strength to say any more.

Ray stood up and walked away. He stood with his back to her for a little while. Finally, without turning around he said, “I thought this was gonna to be a hard thing. When Turnbull was here last week he asked if we could work on bein’ friends again. If I can be friends with someone with so much to be sorry for, I guess I could work on bein’ friends with someone who’s got nothin’ to be sorry for.”

He turned, strode across the room, grabbed her hand and pulled her into a big bear hug.

“There’s just one thing, though,” he said, suddenly becoming very serious.

“What?”

“Do you think, maybe,” he pulled back from her, “maybe that could be friends with benefits?” He grinned at her and she saw that old devilment come back into his eyes.

She broke their embrace and punched him in the arm. “I think I need to go down and let Ben off the hook.”

“Fraser’s here?”

She nodded. “Waiting in the car.”

“You left him in the car? It’s cold out there! I may just have ta rethink this bein’ friends thing.”

“You really think the cold would bother him”? she asked.

“Nah!” they both said as the shook their heads and smiled.

She had just put her hand on the door knob, but hestitated. Without turning to face him she said, "Ray?"

"Hmm?" When she did not respond he had to ask again, "what?"

Still unable to face him she whispered, "I really do love you. Just not like I love..." She rushed out the door without finishing her thoughts.

"Just not like ya love Turnbull," Ray muttered sadly to his closed door.

The cold had not bothered Fraser but the length of time concerned him. He was immensely relieved when Kerri climbed into the car.

“I apologize for taking so long. Were you cold?”

“Not in the least. Were you and Ray able to resolve your issues?” He asked but he was certain he already knew the answer. The sheer length of time she was gone and the look on her face seemed to answer that question.

“Yes, but things will never be the same,” she admitted sadly.

“I’m afraid that’s true,” he said as he drove away from the apartment building. “I’ll take you back to your car, but where are you staying?”

“I don’t actually know. I didn’t think that far ahead. There’s a Marriott near there, it’s where I used to stay before I met Renfield. I’ll see if they have any vacancy.” She grabbed her purse and began to search for her phone.

“Why don’t you stay upstairs at the Consulate. You won’t be in the building alone, I, ah –"

“Are living there again?” When he didn’t respond she said, “you’re not the only observant person in the world you know. How long have you and Meg been apart? she asked gently.

“Not long,” he admitted.

“I’m so sorry! I know how much –"

“We are just too different. Two different people trying to make it work, but we couldn’t.”

“Sometimes being together just hurts more than being apart.”

“Sometimes I think it’s not worth the effort,” he sighed.

Kerri put her hand on his shoulder, offering what little emotional support she could give.

“But you and Turnbull are doing all right?”

“We’re trying. That is he’s trying and I’m not sure.”

Ben took his eyes off the road briefly to glance at her. “I thought you were working things out? Turnbull seemed, I don’t know, upbeat when we talked.”

“There’s been a few changes since you talked.”

Pulling up to the Consulate Fraser said, “let’s get your bag out of your car.”

Once she had taken her bag up and unpacked what she needed she went in search of Ben. He was still working in his office.

“I thought maybe we could visit for a while?” she asked.

“Of course,” he said, signaling her to have a seat. “You said earlier that you and Turnbull were going through some changes. I hope they’re not…”

“I don’t know what they are. I think he’d probably want to tell you this himself, so act surprised when he does okay?” She waited for him to nod in agreement before she continued, “after the way he handled himself and his ah, conduct the other day and his general demeanor at the press conference Patrick Malone offered Renfield a job as an RCMP liaison to the CAFC. He’s been offered to manage a team of fraud investigators.”

“Wow! That’s, well that’s terrific. But is there a problem? Don’t you agree with Malone?”

“Oh, yes! The changes in Renfield are remarkable! He is perfectly capable of managing a team. It’s just that I’ve also been offered a job in Toronto –"

“Really! What will you be doing?”

“I’ve been asked to be second in command to the RCMP Director of Finance.”

“Kerri, this is very exciting. You’ll be working with Superintendent Scott. He’s been your –"

“Actually Walter is retiring. I’d be working directly for soon to be Superintendent Tom Rigby.”

“While this is all very exciting I don’t understand where there is a problem?”

“I don’t even know if there is a problem,” she sighed. “It’s just that things are happening so fast! I think Renfield wants us to go to Toronto and live as husband and wife and go to work and have one happily ever after life.”

“And you’re not sure that’s what you want?”

“A year ago I would have given anything to have Renfield’s love. To go back to running our bookshop and live happily ever after in that lovely old brownstone. I know that is never going to happen but I haven’t even had time to think about this other life. A different life.”

“What exactly gives you pause about this different life. Is it the job –"

“No.” she said. “I truly believe both of us are totally capable of doing the jobs. It’s us, I guess.” She blushed at what she was about to admit. “I can’t think straight when I’m in the same room with Renfield. I love him so much, but I still don’t completely, ah…”

“Trust him? Kerri, he came back into your life after two years, what, last Saturday? You said it yourself things are moving very quickly, and Turnbull has changed. Give yourself a chance to know this man, the new Corporal Turnbull. Perhaps you should each accept the new positions, each move to Toronto and live separately until you feel comfortable with each other.”

“Oh, we’re comfortable with each other, physically at least.” She giggled when she saw Ben’s face. “I’m sorry if this is uncomfortable for you, but I wouldn’t miss that look for anything. I so wish you and Meg could have worked it out. You’re probably the one who should be in Fraser Lake! I think Renfield has been lonely there, it is pretty isolated.”

“I know the place, and yes it’s the kind of place I’d like, but even farther north than that. Unfortunately, Meg’s idea of home is Toronto.”

“Yes,” Kerri said sadly, “I knew that about her.”

They sat quietly for a while, each lost in their own personal thoughts, Fraser of what he had lost and Kerri of what she might have found.

“How long will you be here; in Chicago I mean? I know Meg, that is, Inspector Thatcher will be very upset if she misses you.”

“I can be here a few more days. Is she in meetings or –"

“She’s been in meetings but she’s also avoiding me.”

Kerri wanted to cry for him. One of the most wonderful men she had ever known. Handsome, talented, virtuous and caring he was every woman’s ideal man. He just always seemed to be the unluckiest man alive – unlucky in love.

“I’m getting rather tired. Do you mind if we call it a night?” When she stood up Ben stood with her.

“Try to sleep in tomorrow?” he asked. “No one will bother you and you need the rest. Just come down whenever you like.”

“Goodnight Ben.”

“Goodnight.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

While Kerri was flying to Chicago and visiting Ray and Ben, Renfield was busy making plans. He was going to do everything he could to give her the time she needed and to his way of thinking the first thing he could do was work on her house. If the work was done she would have one less thing on her mind and she could spend more time deciding what she wanted to do. She could spend time with a therapist and begin to heal. And, hopeful, spend some special closeness time with him.

After Kerri left for the airport he went to her house. First he called the number on the business card the furniture delivery guy had given him. He was able to talk to his brother-in-law, the house painter who needed a job. His name was Lucas and since the weather had warmed up and seem it would stay that way he could start tomorrow. Renfield told him he needed the job done quickly so Lucas agreed to work through the weekend and bring some extra guys – for a fee of course. All Lucas needed was the paint and for that he needed a color. Renfield told him he would have to get back to him.

After a bit of pondering he remembered that back in the day, when they were still in Chicago, he and Kerri had spent many long hours driving around looking at the lovely old architecture of the city. He remembered one particular day when they had driven through a dignified old neighborhood of middleclass homes. She had oohed and aahed over one specific house and that house was yellow, with crisp white trim and a picket fence. He called Lucas and made the deal.

Next he went to the house next door. He had seen several teenagers hanging around helping work on an old Mustang. Any kid who had an old car to fix up needed cash, so he walked down the driveway to the back of the house and found 5 teenaged boys bent over the open hood of the car.

“Hey guys! Who wants to earn some good cash?” Renfield asked to no one in particular.

“Who we gotta rob?” one of the young gentlemen asked.

Another boy elbowed him in the ribs. “That’s that Mountie guy idiot!” he whispered.

“What’s the job?”

“We’re getting ready to paint the house next door and I need the yard cleaned up this afternoon. Front and back, flower beds totally cleaned out, lawn, such as it is mowed and trimmed, bushes and trees trimmed, everything hauled away. If you get it completely done this afternoon I will pay you 50 bucks each. If you don’t get it done today it will just be $25.” He hoped that would be incentive enough. “Tools are in the garage. After the house is painted I’ll need some or all of you back to help plant flowers in the beds. Same deal. Who’s in?”

All five teenaged boys started to clean up her yard immediately.

So that took care of the outside of the house. Now for the inside. Kerri had done most of the work, which made Renfield incredibly sad. She hadn’t had anyone to help her and she tried to do it all while having to deal with William the Letch.

The pink bedroom was the last of the rooms to be painted, so now it was time for flooring. He called the closest super store and asked to speak to the manager of the flooring department. Once he got a guy named Jack on the phone he explained his situation. Trading heavily on his recent notoriety he asked Jack for help.

“My team and I are just in the city for a short time and then we’re off to other fraud investigations. One of our investigators, you may have seen her on the news? The pretty lady who called the Mountie her body…guard? Anyway, she is trying desperately to get an old family home fixed up and ready to sell before she is off to catch other bad guys. We want to help her with the flooring. Is there any way you could help us out? There’s hardly any furniture in the house so there won’t be any problem with heavy lifting. There are two bedrooms and a large living room. You can! Remnants are fine the carpet should match as closely as possible and if -” he hoped he wasn’t pressing his luck, “if you have extra pieces of vinyl for the kitchen, bathroom and service porch we’d really appreciate it. I could be there with the room measurements in about an hour. Jack, you are a life saver!” Renfield hung up with a very smug smile on his face. He hadn’t even had to lie – just stretch the truth a little bit, okay, stretch the truth a lot.

Next was furniture. Just the basics because if Kerri didn’t want to come with him, he shuddered, she’d want to choose her own furniture. He found the number for a surplus furniture store nearby and called them.

“Hello, may I speak to the store manager please? This is Corporal Turnbull RCMP.” Sandra was on the line in just moments.

Renfield began with the same line he had given Jack at the superstore. He needed furniture but he needed it delivered next Tuesday. Flooring was to be installed on Monday. Yada, yada, yada. He mentioned that he was the officer in the red serge who was the pretty lady’s body…guard and they would be most grateful if the furniture could be delivered Tuesday afternoon. They needed a queen mattress, box springs, two nightstands, a small dining table and chairs, a sofa and a coffee table. Yes, he could pick them out from an online catalogue of in stock items she would email him. He could also pay for his selections online. The last thing he said to Sandra, before he hung up, was “thank you kindly.”

After he dropped off the room measurements with Jack at the superstore he stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond. He knew many men who avoided this type of store like the plague but he actually liked it because of their large selection of kitchenware. He was always in the market for the latest chef’s knife, sauté pan or cutting board. But this time he was on a mission for sheets and blankets for the new, larger bed that he prayed he’d be allowed to share, fluffy towels because Kerri loved things like that and curtains and rods because he intended to tear down the ratty old things that were hanging over the windows just as soon as he got back to the house. He also let a cute young 20 something clerk recommend a comforter that matched his eyes. He might be in love with the most beautiful woman in the world but it still did a man’s ego a world of good to be flirted with, just a little. Plus, she gave him a discount.

As he drove up to the house he could see the boys hard at work trying to ensure that they got the full $50 for their day’s labor.

“Hey, Mr. Mountie guy!” Renfield felt he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. No one had called him Mr. Mountie since before he’d gone undercover. First it had been little Maria, then the younger children at the school where he taught art and then all of the neighborhood children who came to the bookshop for his Saturday reading time.

“You hear me?” the boy asked him.

“Sorry, just woolgathering.”

The young man looked at him as if he were from another planet. “Could we take a break and look at that car?” He could tell the Mountie guy didn’t know what he was talking about. “The one under the tarp in the garage? We took a peek when we was gettin’ the tools. The Mustang!” God, he thought for a Mountie this guy sure was a dweeb.

So that’s what she had done with her car! He’d wondered. Now she just drove a little old something or other. “Sure, come on I’ll show you.”

They all trooped to the dilapidated building at the end of the driveway. He was going to have to do something about this too, he thought. But, first things first.

The boys helped Turnbull carefully move mouse traps out of the way and pull off the dusty tarp and reveal – “WOW!” all of the boys gasped at once.

“But it’s pink!”

“This my young friends is an authentic, extremely rare Playmate pink 1966 Mustang convertible, 289 V-8 #2 condition completely original and unrestored. Sought after all over the world because of its special color,” Turnbull quoted verbatim what Ray had told him several years ago. Ray dearly loved her car. “It was given to my wife when she graduated from school by her grandmother who bought it brand new, special order.”

“This is so…WOW!”

“I ain’t seen this around. How come she never drives it?”

Renfield knew that to be a very long, sad story, so he lied. “She doesn’t want it out in the weather.”

All the boys nodded in agreement. They understood completely what Edmonton winters could do to a paint job, or the undercarriage of an old car like this.

“How about this? If you all do a really thorough job of planting the flowers and bushes when Kerri returns I’ll ask her if she’ll let me take you for a drive.”

“Cool!” They reverently helped the Mountie guy put the tarp back over the car and rushed back to work. Renfield thought briefly that the way to a young man’s heart was not through his stomach, it was through a beautiful old car.

That afternoon Renfield hung curtains. He’d only done it once before when he and Kerri decorated their apartment over their bookshop. He knew that trying to do this by himself was going to be a challenge but he remained undeterred. He had resolved to do this for her and he would!

The smaller windows presented no problem, other than trying to figure out which end was up on the curtains. But the larger windows in the living room were a totally different matter. Every time he moved the ladder to hang the end of the rod the rod would either fall off the other end or slide out so far it would hit the opposite wall and he couldn’t lift it any higher.

After the curtains had fallen to the floor for the third time he yelled “DRAT!” and climbed down off the ladder once again.

At the same time there was a knock on the screen door and laughter from the man standing there. “Ted, from next door. Need some help?” he asked, letting himself in. “Wife’s always gotta hold stuff when I do this. Takes at least 3 hands.”

Ted held one end while Renfield climbed the ladder and easily dropped the rod onto the bracket. He then took the other end from Ted and put it in place.

“Boy did you ever come at the right time. I was about to admit defeat and surrender. Renfield,” he extended his hand, “Turnbull.”

“Ted Smith,” the older man said as he shook Turnbull’s hand. “Didn’t actually come over to help hang curtains. Just wanted ta say hello ‘n ask what ya did to get them kids to work so hard in yer yard? I’ve been tryin’ to get my grandson Nicky to help me out for years. What’s your trick?”

“Money, and lots of it. I needed the job done fast and kids with cars are always broke.”

“Nicky said yer gettin’ ready to paint. House’s been needin’ it for a long time. Lady that lives here is never home, so she’s not got the time. Between you and me I don’t think she has much money.”

Renfield thought it best to let Ted know right up front that the ‘lady’ was his wife before Ted said something that might be embarrassing. “Kerri’s her name and she’s my wife,” Turnbull said. “We’ve been apart for a while and I’m trying to make it up to her. She’s in Chicago right now so I thought I’d fix this place up a little.”

“Well good on ya for that! If there’s anything you need just knock,” he said as he walked out the door.

Sometimes Renfield wanted to kick himself, as Ray was wont to say, in the head. Once upon a time Kerri was an outgoing, loving person whose door was always open to anyone who would venture in. Almost everyone was her friend from the moment she met them. But here she was living right next door to this friendly man and he had never met her.

Just as she had locked her car, her beloved pink Mustang in that ugly old garage she had locked herself away in this ugly old house. And Renfield knew he was the reason.

His talks with George had taught him many things, but by far the most important was that he couldn’t change the past and living there served to help no one. He could not change what he’d done but he damn well could make up for it in any way he could.

The only things that Renfield couldn’t fix in the house were the plumbing fixtures. The bathroom and kitchen both needed new sinks, but he knew from one particularly bad experience that plumbing was not his forte. So, he had picked up some heavy duty, industrial strength cleanser at the superstore and got to work with a scrub brush, a toothbrush and a whole lot of elbow grease. The sinks still looked old and worn but now they were as clean as they could be. Once finished with the sinks he attacked the range.

One of the things, actually the only thing that he loved about this house was the original O’keefe and Merritt gas stove. It was original to the house so he knew it to be a vintage 1949 beauty – at least it should be under all the built-up grease and grime. It had double ovens, double broiler drawers, 4 burners and a center griddle or 6 burners with the griddle removed. It was white porcelain, trimmed in chrome and nickel with red dials and burner knobs. And still had two WORKING clocks, making it a rare beauty indeed. Even the original salt and pepper shakers were still around here somewhere, he’d seen them that first day when he was making Kerri his chicken Caruso. To any normal human it was probably just an old stove that needed to be replaced, but to a man with the heart of a chef it was a masterpiece, a thing of beauty that needed to be lovingly restored. Renfield looked at this stove just as the teenaged boys had looked at Kerri’s mustang.

He moved the beauty into the center of the kitchen floor and started his loving task. It took him the rest of the day and well into the night, but using a mild degreaser, a toothbrush, copper-brass cleaner and polish, porcelain stove cleaner and again lots of elbow grease his work of art gleamed like new. Before manhandling it back to its home, he polished the entire thing with Jubilee wax.

Once back in its proper location he stood back to admire his handiwork, misquoting Keats, “you’re a true beauty and a joy forever!” he announced. He couldn’t wait to cook Kerri a proper meal on this marvel.

It was well passed 9pm when he finally realized it was time for him to return to the hotel. There was no way he could be comfortable sleeping on the little twin bed of hers. It was about that time he also realized that he hadn’t heard from Kerri.

He’d thought about her off and on all day but put those thoughts out of his mind. Knowing why she had gone and who she would be with was just too painful to think about. But now it was after 10 in Chicago and he’d hoped…

He was about halfway back to their hotel when his phone rang. He pushed the answer call button on the steering wheel. “Hello?”

“Hi!”

“Hi!” he said excitedly. “How are you? How’s Chicago? And the Inspector and Fraser and, and Ray?” Are you having a nice visit with the Inspector? When are you coming home?”

Kerri giggled at him. “I miss you! I did have one panic attack today,” she admitted. “But I think I’ve worked things out with Ray.”

It was a good thing she couldn’t see his face because if she could have she would have deeply regretted ever mentioning Ray. “We’ve agreed we can be friends again. I haven’t seen Meg yet, she’s in Toronto. She and Ben are not living together anymore and he’s living here at the Consulate –"

“You’re staying at the Consulate?”

“I didn’t make a hotel reservation and Ben suggested I stay here. It’s cold here, has it warmed up there yet?” She went on, not giving him the chance to get a word in edgewise. “I hope Meg will come home on Monday. Is it a problem if I stay until Wednesday? Now that I’m here I really want to spend some time with Meg. I’d like to go shopping with her and have lunch and maybe even –"

“Kerri?”

“Yes?”

“Can I say something?”

“Sure!”

“I love you.”

“I love you too!”

“And yes,” he said, “it’s warmed up here.”

Kerri giggled. “I guess I was going on a bit.”

“I love you. Is it okay if I say it again?”

Before she replied, “I love you,” he said again.

Now Kerri giggled harder. She sounded so much like a little girl, so anxious to tell someone about her day. She made him grin.

“Are you driving?” she asked, hearing a horn honk in the background.

“Yes, but I’ve got hands free in this car.”

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the hotel.”

“Where have you been?”

“It’s a surprise. I hope you’re going to like it.”

“What is it?”

“Ah, that would be telling!” He could hear her pout in Chicago through the phone and all the way to Edmonton. It tickled him.

There was a short pause before he finally said, “tell me about your meeting with Ray?”

“Are you sure you want to do this over the phone?”

No, he thought, but “yes,” he said.

“Basically, he said that if he could be friends with you he could certainly be friends with me.”

“I’m glad.”

“Please don’t worry about him? Please?”

“I’ll try,” he said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, which wasn’t much.

“What are you doing while I’m not there? You’re not holed up in the hotel room are you? Why don’t you stay at my house?”

“First of all what I’m doing is a surprise. Second I am not holed up in the hotel room and third I can’t sleep in your little bed. I’m comfortable at the hotel but…”

“But what?”

“The bed is very lonely.”

“Not for long, I’ll be home Wednesday night. Just don’t fill the position until I return,” she grinned at the phone.

“It’s reserved for you. Only and always for you.”

He heard her yawn and knew it was time to let her go. “I think you should get some sleep. Relax and enjoy yourself, okay? You and Meg do some girl stuff and just relax. But call tomorrow. PLEASE?” he begged.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Chapter 19

**Saturday**

Kerri awoke late on Saturday morning to find she was alone in the Consulate. Ben had left her a note saying he had some errands to run and would she like to go to lunch with him when he got back. She had never been here alone and she found it very strange. In fact, she still found it strange to be in this building at all without Renfield.

She wandered around feeling a little like she was intruding but still she felt compelled to wander. She went into Meg’s office and sat behind her desk. She wondered as she sat there how many times Renfield had stood at attention in front of her, receiving orders for the day or, more likely a dressing down for something he’d done or had not done, as the case may be. How many times had she yelled at Ben for trying to save the world? One Chicago citizen at a time.

Kerri knew that Renfield and Ben had driven her to distraction many times, but she also knew that Meg loved them both. Loving Ben was obvious every time she looked at him. And Renfield, well Kerri had heard Meg call him ‘her constable’ on more than one occasion.

Kerri thought back to the very first time she was in this room. She had come to do an audit and Meg and Ben were both out of town. Renfield had shown her to Meg’s office, given her access to all the files she would need and then he had beat a hasty retreat. Meg had left orders for him to stay out of the auditor’s way, concerned that he might hurt, offend or in some other way damage him. Meg had issued those orders thinking the auditor was a ‘he’.

Kerri smiled as she remembered Renfield’s look of utter shock when he opened the front door to her. That had been a very long time ago and so much had happened.

Thinking of their first meeting led Kerri out of Meg’s office and down the hall to the kitchen. As she walked through the door she remembered chicken Caruso. Renfield had tried to recreate it with what she had on hand last Saturday. My God! she thought, that was just a week ago!

The first time he’d made it for her had been in this very kitchen the day after they met. She chuckled aloud – he’d been wearing an apron that was printed with ‘Kiss the Cook’ and a toque. She’d teased him and he had been thoroughly embarrassed. The food and the conversation had been marvelous and that was the day she started to fall in love with Renfield.

She’d always marveled at the size of this kitchen. She had never known the original intentions for this building, but whatever it had been they must have needed a catering kitchen. Though not huge, it certainly had enough room for several people to prepare buffet foods or even a sit-down formal dinner.

Although she couldn’t remember him ever commenting on it, Kerri was sure Renfield must have loved this kitchen. Imagining him working here got her to thinking about the many delicious meals he’d prepared for her over the years. There was the old fall back grilled cheese and tomato soup – but not the kind of soup from a can. Eggs benedict with peameal bacon and lemon dill sauce or Swedish pancakes were her breakfast favorites. And of course his funghi cappelle infarcite served with sautéed veal was the way to her heart.

Well, now she’d done it! She came out of her reverie to realize she was hungry. She walked over to the huge commercial refrigerator. Back when Renfield was still posted here this frig always contained wonderful concoctions, or at the very least the ingredients for something wonderful. Unfortunately, right now there were two bottles of green olives, a jar of expired mayonnaise, mustard, a very nice bottle of Riesling and someone’s brown bag lunch of indeterminate age.

“Rats!”

She jumped at laughter behind her. “It’s been a long time since there’s been a Turnbull in this kitchen. I hope you didn’t find rats in there,” Ben said, pointing at the open refrigerator.

“No!" she chuckled. "But I also didn’t find much of anything else either. Don’t you people ever eat around here?”

“Not often, especially since Turnbull isn’t here to cook for us anymore,” he said, sadly.

“Could we go get something to eat?” she begged.

“Sure. How about the diner around the corner?”

As they walked around the corner Benton asked, “did you sleep well? You’re looking more rested.”

“Yes I did, thanks. It seems that I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping this last week. Not really resting though – until last night.”

“Turnbull told us that the medication you got in the ER was too strong. Is that the reason?”

“Renfield has been protecting me since the day he came back into my life. He called the doctor because I was sleeping around the clock and then took all the pills and cut them in half so I wouldn’t accidentally take too much.”

She paused as Ben opened the door of the diner for her and didn’t speak again until they were seated at a booth in the back.

“Anyway,” she said, “taking half the dose has kept me from sleeping so much. But the chaos of the last week has kept me from resting, I guess.”

“The Corporal certainly showed up at the right time!”

“Don’t I know it. That first day, right before he got there I starting having an attack, the worst one by far. He’d only been there a few minutes when I broke some glass and I would have fallen right on top of it if Renfield hadn’t caught me.”

The waitress came to bring them water and took their orders. Once she walked away Ben continued, “I wish you had called us – me. I would have tried to help.”

Kerri smiled at him. “I know you would have and I don’t know why I didn’t call for help. I really don’t. After what happened with Ray and Renfield I guess I felt I just wasn’t worthy of anyone’s notice.”

“You don’t really believe that, do you?”

“NO! At least not anymore,” she sighed. She closed her eyes to gather her thoughts. “My attacks started right before I left Chicago. I didn’t know what they were and I was scared to find out. When I went to work for McCord’s and began to realize something wasn’t right in the company I was just stuck. I didn’t know who to trust or who I could rely on so I just kept working, having attacks, fighting off William –"

“Wait! What?”

“William the Letch, that’s what Renfield and I called him. I suspected him from almost the first. But he just kept coming at me thinking that since I was blonde I also must be dumb and an easy touch – literally.”

Ben cringed. “I am so sorry! No woman should have to suffer unwanted advances in their workplace. But that’s all over now!” Thank God.

“Yes! Mostly thanks to Renfield. He just sort of swooped in and helped to save the day.”

“Sort of like Mighty Mouse.”

“Mighty Mouse!”

“It’s something that one of his art students drew. A picture of Mr. Mountie, He looked like Mighty Mouse. It was before you came into his life.” Fraser explained, with a very sly grin.

“Mighty Mouse! I’m going to have to remember that one.”

“I am so sorry all of this had to happen. It’s not something that you deserved. You are so kind and caring and…” He stopped in mid-sentence, suddenly becoming more than a little embarrassed and inarticulate.

Kerri grinned broadly. “You know right after Renfield and I discovered each other I told him if I’d seen you first things might have been entirely different.” She winked at him teasingly.

Suddenly Ben sat bolt upright, his eyes got huge and Kerri could almost see the lightbulb come on over his head. “Of course!!” he exclaimed. “That explains it! What a sinister plot!!” And then he laughed.

Totally confused Kerri said, “huh?”

When he stopped laughing he told her a little story. “It seems that our former Constable Turnbull was possessive of you from the first moment he saw you. Do you remember when Ray and I came back early from our trip to visit my sister, when we first met you?”

“Yes...”

“We asked you if you’d like to go to lunch with us?”

“Ah, yes...”

“And Constable Turnbull said he was making us chili?”

Now Kerri remembered, she’d even thought he might have done it on purpose. But her dear, sweet Renny would have never…

“I thought I was going to die after just one bite! I’d never tasted anything so hot and hoped to never again! Now I see he did that on purpose! To eliminate the competition, so to speak!”

“Oh, dear!”

Then they both laughed. “Afterburner chili indeed!” Ben muttered.

Ben watched her surreptitiously as she ate her salad. He could see the change in her already. Getting away from, as Superintendent Scott had called it, that mess was making marked changes in her. Her eyes were brighter, she color less sallow and her attitude was more upbeat. Yes, he thought, time away with no pressure was bringing out the old Kerri, the woman everyone loved.

“You’re staring at me,” she said.

“I’m just noticing how much better you look. Sort of like your old self.”

“Hey! Watch who you’re calling old!”

“See what I mean?”

“I am feeling much more like my old ah, other self.” She looked pensive for a moment. “I think…”

“Talking to Ray helped?” She nodded. “He never had anything but your best interests at heart. He loved you from about 1 day after Turnbull, you know.”

She nodded again. “And I always loved him, just not the way I loved, love Renfield.”

“You always saw something in Turnbull that none of the rest of us had any idea existed. I doubt there has ever been two people who were more suited for each other than you two.”

They ate for a few moments in silence. Finally, Ben had to ask, “tell me about these positions you have both been offered.”

“For me it’s going to be a lot like what I used to do, but more administration and, I hope, very little, if any travel. I’ve only met Tom Rigby once and there was a little subterfuge involved at that meeting. Walter didn’t want to talk to me yet, because of my health, so Tom sort of interviewed me without my knowing. I suspected something was up when he kept asking me questions. But I certainly had no idea what.”

“So you don’t have to be an officer to hold the position?”

“No, actually the RCMP is trying to phase out in force top level management positions. Have been for quite some time.” She thought about it a moment and blushed. She’d worn red serge – once – but it was Renfield’s tunic and he was trying to tease her out of it.

Ben saw her blush and knew better than to ask why – he really didn’t want to know.

“And Turnbull?” he asked, looking at her over his mug of tea.

“That one I’m not too sure about. Again, I think it’s mostly administration. He’ll be in charge of a team of forensic accountants and fraud investigators. But I don’t think he will travel with the team. The group that came to Toronto to help me was led by a guy named Jeremy Dishner and he had about 10 other Brooks Brothers.” She chuckled at the look on Ben’s face. “I called them that because they all wore pretty much the same severe suit and I didn’t know their names. Walter came with them because, well because he was worried about me and Patrick Malone came because by then they were pretty sure I had uncovered a whole lot more than I knew. Plus,” she whispered conspiratorially, “I think he liked the limelight.”

“So,” Ben summed it up, “you’re a civilian who will be working for the RCMP and Corporal Turnbull is RCMP working for the Anti-fraud Centre.”

“Yep.”

“And you think Turnbull is up to the task?”

She thought for a long time before she answered. “It’s hard for me to be objective, but yes. I have seen so many changes in him. He’s competent and self-reliant, he has become a real take charge kind of person. He uses the experiences he had with you and Ray, the experiences he’s had in Fraser Lake and the wisdom, if you can call it that, he gained while undercover. Now he’s the product of all of that.” She sighed. “He’s harder now with none of the old, yes I said old, naiveté or goofiness. I miss that in him just a little bit,” she admitted. “There’s a lot he has to learn, but I know he’s up to the task.”

Fraser grinned at her. “You’re very proud of him aren’t you?” He really didn’t need to ask, a person only need look at her face to know the answer.

“Yep!” Kerri realized that almost all of the conversation had been about her. She wondered if that was his plan or if it had been unintentional. She was pretty sure it was the former.

“Do you think Meg is planning on leaving Chicago?” she asked.

He looked up, startled. “Where did that come from?”

“I can be perceptive sometimes too. And you didn’t answer my question.”

“She hasn’t said, but I think that’s why she’s in Toronto, yes,” he admitted.

The look on his face made her regret ever asking. “I’m so sorry, it’s not of my business. Please forgive me?”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s something that both of us knew was coming,” he admitted.

“Is it just a matter of two different people?” she asked softly.

“I guess so,” he said. “But it’s also that I just can’t give her what she needs. She needs people and shopping and parties and socializing.”

“And that kind of life is no life for you.”

“I’ve stayed here, done everything I could think of to do, changed myself for her and it’s just not enough.”

“Would you try to go back north?”

“I really don’t know. I burned a lot of bridges when I investigated my Dad’s murder.”

“But hasn’t it been long enough? I know you and Ray are very close, maybe he could go with?”

They both burst out laughing. The thought of Ray in the great white north was ludicrous.

He stared at her for several moments. “I’ve missed you and Turnbull. I wish he could have come with you.”

“I asked him not to.” She could tell she’d surprised him. “Knowing that I was going to see Ray was very hard on him. Being here would have been much harder. Plus, like I said before, I can’t think straight with him around. I needed time and space to think and heal.” She grinned at him, “and being able to just sit and chat with you has helped me a lot.”

They had talked half the day away. She saw him glance at the clock on the wall and wondered if he was tiring of all the chit chat. “Do you think we should go? We’ve been here a very long time.”

“And I’ve enjoyed every bit of it,” he said. “Could we stay a bit longer? I’m enjoying the company.”

“Fine with me! But if we stay much longer we’re going to have to eat again!”

He smiled a very self-satisfied smile. “I can see the changes in you,” he said. “I think just sitting and talking has helped both of us. I don’t get the opportunity to do that much –"

“Ray’s not a good listener?” she grinned.

“He usually falls asleep.”

Kerri chuckled and watched the waitress fill her iced tea glass for the umpteenth time. “I really miss the days when all of us could laugh and enjoy each other’s company. Remember the day Renfield gave me the bookshop?”

“I remember Ray griped continually about having to go up into the attic to hang that huge red ribbon and Meg so excited for you she could hardly contain herself. You and she have been good friends almost since the first.”

Kerri laughed. “I remember the first talk we had after she found out that Renfield and I were, her words, ‘bonding’. She told me to make sure I didn’t damage him!”

“I’ve seen Turnbull trip over his feet and land face first on the floor, trip up the stairs and fall on a pile of freshly laundered towels and run face first into a wall with a plate of ratatouille in his hands – but I’ve never seen him damage himself. I wonder if that is even possible.” Ben knew immediately that he had said something wrong because Kerri’s smile was instantly gone.

“I’m sorry, what did I say?”

“No, I’m sorry to spoil the mood. It’s just that while he was held captive in Colombia he was whipped. He has horrendous scars all over his back.”

“I didn’t realize. He went through so much. Has he talked to you about it?”

“No. It’s only been a few days and he has been focused on me the entire time. He did show me the scars and they sickened me. Not because of how they looked, but because of what they represented – that such a kind, loving man had to go through that. I haven’t asked him about them either. I figure he’ll tell me when he’s ready.”

Their conversation ebbed and both of them realized it was time to leave. Ben was about to pay their check when Kerri said, “I’d like to order some take out for dinner, if you don’t mind? Once we get back to the Consulate I’d like to hunker down, watch some TV and give my Mountie a call.”

Ben ordered them both burgers and fries to go and once they had their food they made their way back to the Consulate.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The painters arrived almost promptly at 7:30ish. Once Renfield had given them detailed instructions he set about planning his day. There were still a great many details to see to before the flooring was installed, so he would need to make a checklist and go back to the superstore.

Before he could do that however he needed a favor so he went next door to visit Ted.

“Mornin’!” Ted called from somewhere down the driveway. “See the painters are hard at work.”

“Good morning!” Renfield called back as he walked toward him. “I’m on my way to verify that they’ve chosen the right yellow. But,” he hesitated, hoping he didn’t sound like some kind of needy neighbor, “I was wondering if I might borrow that old pickup? I need to get some things that won’t fit in my rental.”

Ted looked doubtful and Renfield was afraid he might be asking too much. “That old heap is pretty temperamental. Maybe I should come with ya? If ya don’t mind?”

“That would be great! I can be ready to go whenever you are able.”

Ted winked at him. “Just don’t tell the wife where we’re goin’. She hates ta let me go ta any kind a store by myself. Says I never get the right stuff.”

About 30 minutes later Renfield and Ted set off to find a new screen door, vinyl picket fencing, an arbor and to find out exactly what a house paint color called ‘butterball’ looked like. The wife – whose name turned out to be Mary – found out where they were going and gave Ted a list of a few of things that she wanted. She gave Renfield specific instructions so that Ted wouldn’t bring home the wrong thing.

They found what Renfield wanted within about 10 minutes. Finding a butterball paint chip took a little longer and getting a gallon of eggshell white paint mixed took maybe another 5 minutes. Then they tackled Mary’s list. Finding an 8x10 picture frame to replace the one Ted had broken last week proved to be a daunting task. Finding a clerk, no small task in itself, showing that clerk a picture of said frame and the 3 of them searching for 10 minutes produced only one remote possibility. Ted said, “I’ll take that one!” Renfield cringed and the clerk ran off to help someone else.

The next item on her list was a toilet brush. That should be easy Renfield thought. How many kinds of toilet brushes could there possibly be? 24. He knew because he counted them. They ruled out the 8 extremely expensive ones leaving 16 left to choose from. In the end Ted closed his eyes and pointed to somewhere right between a brush that said Rubbermaid and one that said OXO. Ted had no idea what OXO meant, so he grabbed the other one, saying, “sold!”

The next and thankfully last thing on the list was Duck Tape. “What the heck does she want with Duck Tape?” Ted muttered.

Renfield had no idea where to look so he grabbed that same clerk who helped them look for the picture frame and asked to be pointed in the direction of Duck Tape. “What color?” the young man asked.

Renfield looked at Ted, who looked at Renfield. Then they both looked at the clerk. “Silver?” Ted asked.

The young man looked at both the old guy and the older guy and recited, very slowly because sometimes old people had trouble understanding, “there is Duck Tape for painting, there is utility Duck Tape, the are 35 and counting colors and patterns of decorative Duck Tape, there is Duck Tape original and Duck Tape Max. Which one?”

“Silver?” Renfield said.

“Aisle 3,” the young man responded and hurried to get away from the geezers.

They found aisle 3 and they found what, hopefully, Mary had asked for and got the heck out of that store. It had taken them twice as long to find Mary’s 3 times as it had taken Renfield to find a whole truck load of other stuff.

As they drove back home Ted turned to Renfield. “You go by anything else but Renfield? I was thinkin’ maybe I could call you Ren? Renfield’s sort of a mouthful.”

“Sure,” Ren said, “fine by me.”

Ted talked for a while about his neighborhood and the changes he’d seen over the years. He’d actually met Kerri’s dad, once, and he didn’t like him much. “Sort of a weird kinda guy, ya know? That daughter a his was always a pretty thing, but we never saw her much. The dad hardly ever let her outta the house. She musta moved away ‘cause bout the time we didn’t see her anymore he moved too. Think I heard he went ta Idaho or some place. Then there started to be renters. Place went ta pot after that. Sure glad yer workin’ on fixin’ it up. You gonna live there with her? Be nice ta have neighbors that we feel comfortable with.”

“No, we’ve both been offered jobs in Toronto. I’m going to move there, but she hasn’t decided yet. She might stay,” he admitted.

“Married folks outta live tagether,” Ted said. “Hope she decides ta go with ya. Hate ta see ya go, but hope she wants ta be with you.” They pulled up in Kerri’s driveway to unload the fencing, arbor and screen door. “Want some help puttin’ that fencing in? And I could sure help with hangin’ that screen door.”

As Kerri and Fraser were chatting the afternoon away Ren and Ted installed the short picket fencing about a foot back from the sidewalk along the front of Kerri’s house, putting the arbor over the walkway to the front door, right in the middle of two lengths of pickets. Renfield would have the boys plant flowers between the sidewalk and fence and a couple of vines that would eventually grow over the arbor.

When they were done with the fence and the arbor Renfield decided to call it a day. He was tired and he just knew that Ted was too.

He thanked him profusely and told him to tell Mary not to cook Sunday dinner, he’s bring something over. Ted promised, although in his experience Mary was the best cook ever. Ted said goodbye and promised to help with the screen door tomorrow.

As Renfield walked back from Ted’s driveway he took a look at their handiwork. The fence and arbor looked great. The planting beds between the sidewalk and the fence were just waiting for seeds or plants and the arbor stood proud just waiting for its flowering vine cover.

The house, however, looked awful. The painters had spent the entire day scraping and patching, patching and scraping. He knew that the prep work would take about twice as long as the actual painting, but wow did Kerri’s little house look BAD. Lord, he thought, if Kerri could see it now she would probably throttle him.

He went in search of something to eat and remembered. He’d been so busy he still hadn’t gotten anything in. That would have to wait until tomorrow. For now he’d have to settle for a bowl of cereal and maybe some toast. Not much for a growing boy, he thought with a chuckle, but it would have to do for now.

Chapter 20

**Sunday**

Kerri had absolutely nothing to do today. Ben and Ray had plans to go to a hockey game but even though Ben had reluctantly invited her to go along she knew that was an extraordinarily bad idea. First because everyone knew Kerri was NOT a fan of hockey, which she considered far too violent, second because it would kill Renfield if he knew she had gone anywhere with Ray and third and most importantly it wasn’t fair to Ray for her to be there.

So, she stayed at the Consulate. She told Ben not to worry about her, she’d watch TV or read a book or take a long walk. None of which she found particularly appealing but knowing Ben, if he thought she was going to in any way be uncomfortable, he would have cancelled their outing.

Kerri waved goodbye to Ben as he drove off to pick up Ray. She was glad that Ben and Ray had a solid friendship and that despite being let down more than once by the women in their lives they seemed to be okay with just male companionship – for the time being at least.

As she climbed the stairs to her room she thought that she just didn’t understand it. Two handsome, personable, albeit very unique men who just couldn’t find a woman who would not leave them. Unfortunately, she was on the top of Ray’s list. Renfield had always thought he knew just which woman each man needed but each time he’d tried to fix up Ray or Ben with one of those women it had ended, if not badly, at least unhappily.

Once she got to the top of the stairs she decided she was hungry. Ben had brought in a few groceries for her this morning, so she decided to go back down to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. Then she’d settle in for an afternoon of watching TV and rereading an old romance novel she carried in her suitcase for reading on the plane.

When Ben returned late that night he was mildly concerned that the lights in the building were all off. He checked upstairs and found Kerri fast asleep, a half-eaten sandwich on a tray next to the bed.

He smiled as he pulled the bedroom door closed. She’d slept the day away and he was very pleased.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Unlike Kerri Renfield had his hands full today. He’d decided when he and Ted were at the superstore yesterday that he was going to paint the woodwork and kitchen cabinets in her house. So, he showed up bright and early and began the task of sanding and priming cabinet doors and drawer fronts.

For many DIY enthusiasts this would be a daunting task but Renfield had done it before. On the same renovation project where he’d learned, the hard way, that plumbing was not his forte, he’d also learned how to strip and refinish an entire office full of cabinets. This small kitchen would, hopefully, be child’s play.

He marked the locations of all the pieces and hauled them to the backyard. Ted had loaned him a belt sander and so the work began – sanding and priming everything. By late morning all of that was done. Hopefully, in eight hours he could begin with the first coat of paint.

In the meantime he had a screen door to hang and then groceries to buy. He’d decided not to prepare anything too fancy for the dinner that he was going to share with the neighbors, but this kitchen at least needed the basics.

As agreed Ted came over at noon to help with the screen door and brought his grandson, the Mustang enthusiast, with him. Renfield was thrilled to have a student again – even if he was a teenager who would rather be anywhere but here.

Nick was helpful enough, but thoroughly bored. Renfield showed him the proper way to hand plane the wood to fit, install the hardware, measure, mark and drill pilot holes for the screws, how to level, and how to adjust the swing of the door. Of course Ted had tried to show Nick all of these things before but somehow coming from the guy whose wife owned a ’66 Mustang made the work a little bit less boring. It didn’t take long at all for them to get the door hung but before they went home Renfield surreptitiously handed the boy a $20 note for his help.

“Give your Grandpa a break,” he said when Ted was out of earshot. “He’s doing the best he can. They may not be your folks and they may be old, but they’re trying.”

Nick said, “thanks!” and left.

Renfield left for the market shortly after. Once he’d gotten all the staples for Kerri’s pantry – hoping much of them would never be used, in that house anyway – he made his way to the farmer’s market. He bought lettuce, cucumber, a couple of baskets of blueberries, some gorgeous tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, celery, mushrooms and several different herbs. He made certain that once Kerri was home he had all the ingredients and more that he needed to prepare her the best version of chicken Caruso he had ever made.

By the time he returned to her house and put the groceries away he was ready to prepare dinner. He’d decided on creamy parmesan chicken with mushrooms and fresh green beans and blueberry stuffed crêpes for dessert. Once the meal was prepared he set aside enough for himself and delivered the rest to Ted, Mary, and Nick.

It was now time to put the first coat of paint on the kitchen cabinet doors and drawer fronts. As he applied a thin coat of brilliant white paint to the cabinet doors he realized he was really enjoying himself. Not only was he doing something important for the woman he loved, but he was really enjoying the work. Seeing the transformation of the old place was very self-satisfying.

Once he was done with the painting he carefully moved the pieces inside to protect them against the damp night air. Realizing he wasn’t going to have time to paint all the baseboards in the entire house he elected to paint them in the living room and set to it.

After they had eaten Ted brought the cleaned serving dishes back to Renfield and saw immediately that his new neighbor needed to borrow something else. “Howdy neighbor,” he called through the new screen door. “Gettin’ a little dark for close up paintin’,” he said as he walked into the kitchen to set the dishes down. “I got some work lights over at the house. I’ll send Nicky over with ‘em. That was a great dinner, by the way. Not usually a mushroom fan, but that was really good. Nicky loved them crêpes. When I asked him if he liked he chicken I think his words were ‘well I don’t hate it’. High praise from him! Wife wants the recipe when you get a chance. Thanks!”

It took Nick about 5 minutes to bring over the lights. “I use these a lot for working on the car,” he said as he helped Renfield untangle the cords and plug them in. “It was my dad’s before he died.”

“Are both of your parents gone?” Renfield asked.

“Yeah, car crash, 10 years ago.”

“That’s tough, I’m sorry. My mum died when I was 12 and I still miss her.”

“You still got you dad?”

“Yes! I haven’t seen him for several months though,” Renfield admitted.

“You know much about cars?” Nick asked, changing the subject.

”No, I’m sorry I don’t.” I have a friend who knows a lot, but he lives in Chicago, he thought. “You got an auto shop at school?”

“Yeah, gonna take that next term.”

“Make sure you and your buddies write down all of your questions and ask your teacher then. I bet he’ll be glad to help.”

They both heard Mary calling for him, so Nick knew it was time to go. “See ya,” he said as he hurried out the door.

“You’re welcome here any time!” Renfield called after him. He felt sorry for the boy, but he had grandparents who loved him and that was more than a lot of kids he’d known.

With the help of Ted’s work lights he worked well into the night. By about midnight the baseboards where done and ready for the carpet to be installed tomorrow. Renfield also knew that he was done too. More tired than he could remember being in a long time he decided to just collapse on the little twin bed for the night.

He didn’t even remember that he hadn’t spoken with Kerri all day.

Chapter 21

**Monday**

The first thing Kerri thought when she opened her eyes was it was still light outside and the next was that she was hungry. She looked at the remains of the sandwich next to her and noticed that the bread was completely dried out. She frowned and looked at her phone – 6 AM! She’d slept well over 12 hours. No! More like 18! One of these days she would have to add up the total number of hours had she slept in the last 10 days. She was thinking it might actually be more than the total hours she’d been awake.

She sat up on the bed and tried to stretch her stiff muscles. Not only had she slept that long but apparently she hadn’t moved the entire time. She was stiff all over.

When she went down in search of something to eat she ran into Ben at the foot of the stairs. Just coming in from his morning constitutional with Diefenbaker he was flushed from the cold and looking very handsome. He was also very glad to see how well she looked.

“I was beginning to worry that you were sleeping so long, but you look like it really helped! How are you feeling?”

Diefenbaker was apparently happy to see her too, jumping up and licking her face. She giggled and it warmed Ben’s heart. “I’m feeling wonderful. I must have needed sleep more than I knew, but now,” she said as her favorite wolf interrupted her with more wolf kisses, “I’m in search of something to eat. Do you want something to eat?” she asked the face currently getting her face wet with a very long tongue.

“Offer him a donut and he’ll follow you anywhere!” Ben looked a Dief and shook his head. “Beggar!”

Kerri found a bagel and some cream cheese in the kitchen, but no donut for Dief. “You know,” she told him as he trotted up to see what she’d found, “I’ll bet Ben has some wonderful kibble for you around here somewhere!” Diefenbaker whined and turned his back on her. He trotted out of the kitchen, Kerri no longer his best friend.

While she sat in the kitchen and chowed down on a really great toasted ‘everything’ bagel she daydreamed about Renfield. It had only been a few days but she missed him so much. She thought of all they had been through together – and apart – and marveled that even with all the trials and tribulations they still loved each other. For an entire year he had been gone, suffering she knew not what torment and for that same year she had also suffered. To the point where she seriously considered ending her own life. But now here they were sort of stumbling around in the dark try to find their way to move on together.

Now that she had slept half of the last ten days away she could think more clearly and she knew she needed to be with him. She had told him a few days ago that for two years she hadn’t lived only existed. But now she was living again – because of him. She didn’t yet know what the future might bring but she did know that she couldn’t live without Renfield.

“You’re certainly a millions miles away!” Ben said as he walked into the kitchen, hungry wolf at his heels. “Or is it just the distance from here to Edmonton?”

“You seem to know me too well,” she commented as she watched him search for the bagels. “Bread box,” she said. Then looking at Dief, “sorry my friend, still no donuts.” Dief said a little “woof” and turned his back on both of them. Apparently neither one of them being his best friend any longer.

“Ingrate!” Ben called after him as Dief trotted out of the kitchen.

“Don’t you ever feed the poor guy?” Kerri chuckled.

Calling after him Ben yelled, “if he wants anything else to eat he can get it himself!”

“It must be hard to have a wolf for a friend,” Kerri chuckled again.

“You have no idea!” Ben came to sit with her. “It seems that you have caught up with the need for rest and relaxation. How are you feeling, really?”

“So much better. I guess I didn’t realize just how bad off I was. I feel like a fog has lifted. I’m even seeing colors differently. Everything is brighter now, and I’m more aware of sights and sounds,” she came up short. “Do you think it’s the medication?” she laughed.

“I think you’ve finally emerged from a long, dark tunnel. One that you had to travel by yourself. And you’ve made it.”

“Yes I made it, but I did have help.” And she thanked God daily for that help, in the form of an RCMP corporal.

Just then Ben’s phone alerted him to the arrival of a text message. “The Inspector is arriving this afternoon at 3. She wants someone to pick her up at the airport. Want to come along?”

“Does she know I’m here?” What she was really asking was ‘have you spoken with her; have you made up; have you settled your differences; are you going to get back together; are you going to try again – try to be happy together?’

“I haven’t told her. We never speak of anything outside of work related matters – anymore.” The finality of his words made Kerri incredibly sad.

Ben left her to begin his workday and Kerri sat for a while longer. She began to wonder if there was more going on than just two people wanting to lead two different lives. She finished her bagel, set thoughts of Ben and Meg aside for the moment and straightened up the kitchen.

Once everything had been put in its proper place she headed upstairs. Sitting at Renfield’s desk in the foyer was the same young constable who she seen the other day but not yet met. Kerri remembered her name was Constable Hunt, so she stopped to introduce herself.

“Hello, Constable Hunt,” she began, “my name is Kerri Turnbull. We haven’t –"

“I know who you are,” the other woman said curtly, avoiding Kerri’s outstretched hand.

“I’m staying here for a few days while I visit Constable Fraser and Inspector Thatcher.” The other woman seemed, at best uninterested and at worst openly hostile. “I’m very anxious to see the Inspector, it’s been a long time since –"

“Whatever,” the Constable muttered under her breath.

Kerri was about to walk away, leaving the woman alone when she changed her mind. “Excuse me, but have I done something to offend you? That is the only reason I can think of for your rudeness.”

“Sorry Ma’am,” Hunt said, but Kerri could tell she didn’t mean it.

Rather than belabor the point Kerri said, “well if I have it was certainly unintentional,” and she walked on up the stairs. She had one foot on the top step when she turned and hurried back down.

“Look Constable Hunt,” she said, “my husband used to sit right where you’re sitting now. I met him in this building. Inspector Thatcher and Constable Fraser are our best friends and have been for several years. I love coming here, I love this beautiful old building and I’d like to feel comfortable when I walk in the front door. If you’ve got a problem with me tell me and I’ll try to fix it! But please don’t make me feel like I’m not welcome here, because I just won’t stand for it!”

The young woman was shocked, but not too shocked to speak up. “I don’t like the way you treated Ray, that is Detective Kowalski! He’s a wonderful man and I don’t think he deserved what you…” Her words trailed off as what she was saying sunk in. She immediately regretted revealing herself to this woman.

“What! I hadn’t even seen Ray in over a year! I don’t,” and then it dawned on her. “Oh…I think I see. You heard somewhere that he and I were together and then I left for Edmonton.” She immediately regretted her harsh words to the Constable. “You care for Ray, don’t you?” she said softly.

“Me! No, I mean, ah that is, I don’t, I wouldn’t… He doesn’t even know I’m alive,” she admitted.

“I mean how could I compete with the likes of you? You’re pretty and slim and blonde and everyone talks about how much they miss you and how they hope you’re okay and on and on and on about how great Kerri is. And I’m shorter than I’d like and weigh more than I should and I’m plain and Ray never looks at me sideways.”

“Do you know how to dance?” Kerri asked.

“You mean like waltz or salsa? That kind of thing? Yeah, my mom made me take years of lessons,” Hunt admitted although confused.

“How about cooking? Can you cook?”

Hunt nodded, “lessons there too.”

“And cars? Do you know about cars? Old ones like Ray’s GTO?”

Hunt was catching on. She may not have been the prettiest or most shapely girl in the room, but she was pretty darn smart. “No, but I can learn about them online.”

“Good! Ray’s three favorite things in the world are dancing, food and cars. Figure out a way to let him know you’re good at them and the rest will follow.”

“Thank you! It’s nice of you to tell me that.”

“You’re welcome Const – what’s your first name?”

“Stella.”

Uh oh. “That might be a problem.” A big one, Kerri thought. “Do you go by anything else, middle name, nickname?”

“My middle name is Maria.”

“That’s great. For now tell Ray you go by your middle name – Maria. He’ll understand that, Ray is his middle name.”

Hunt looked at her askance and was about to ask, but before she could Kerri said, “trust me Maria will get you MUCH farther with Ray than Stella would.”

Kerri hurried up the stairs, her gait much lighter than previously. Having someone else’s problems to focus on made her almost giddy, like the way she used to feel when someone came into the bookshop and she’d help them work out their problems with a book recommendation or a cup of tea. She realized that she was happy just to be alive – for the first time in a long time.

Now was definitely the time to call Renfield. She hoped he could hear it in her voice and she wouldn’t have to say a thing.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The flooring guys arrived just as his phone rang. Looking at his caller ID he was both thrilled and disappointed. Thrilled just to hear her voice but also disappointed that there was just no way he could talk to her right now.

“Kerri!” he exclaimed. “I’m so sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk yesterday.”

“I was going to call – I promise, but I fell asleep about 2 in the afternoon and slept through until this morning!”

“Are you okay?” he was instantly alarmed. “That’s a long –"

“I’m fine, I really am. I’m feeling better than I have in – Renfield what’s that noise? It sounds like, well I’m not sure what –"

“Can I call you back after a while? They’re about to start laying carpet here and I’ve got to get out of the way, and I can’t hear you very well…”

“At the hotel? Okay, but call back soon I miss you. I love you!

“Sorry can’t hear you. I love you, bye.”

“Phooey!” she said as she ended her call.

Ben texted her a little while later, saying that the Inspector had gotten in touch with him with all sorts of errands for him to attend to, so he was sorry but Constable Hunt would have to pick Meg up at the airport and Kerri could just surprise her when they got back.

Kerri was disappointed but knew Consulate business came first. So, she switched on the TV and settled in with reruns. Maybe she and Meg could go out to dinner and chat for a while and then tomorrow go shopping and spend some quality girl time together.

It didn’t take long for her to tire of watching TV so she turned if off and dug out her book. She curled up on the window seat in the bedroom and read.

Without the noise from the TV Kerri could hear the normal daily activities of the Consulate. The ringing phone, people coming and going, packages being delivered, office machines running. It was a very pleasing sound. It was especially pleasing to her because the sounds, though familiar, held no dishonesty, subterfuge or even licentiousness, the things that she had come to associate with the sounds of her office in Edmonton. She was happy to stop reading and just listen to the world around her.

She sat there in the window for a long time continuing to enjoy being alive when she heard Ben’s voice in the foyer. He and Constable Hunt were discussing something that caught her attention. Coming to the head of the stairs she listened,

“I’ve got to leave if I want to be there when she arrives, you know how she gets.”

“And I’ve got to pick up the packages, they must be signed for by 3:00 or I won’t be able to get them until tomorrow and yes, we both know how she gets, as you say.”

“Well someone’s got to be here to answer the phone and the mail hasn’t come yet and I don’t know what to do –"

“How about if I answer the phones and take the mail in?” Kerri asked as she hurried down the stairs. “I can’t speak French very well, but I am Canadian.”

“Well, I, uh, that is, uh…”

“Ben, I do know how to answer a phone and if anyone stops by for info on how to be a Canadian I am perfectly capable of answering their questions. How about it, I have to do something to pay for my room and board?”

Maria grabbed her Stetson and was out the door before Ben had a chance to answer. “I should just make it if I hurry. Thanks!” she called over her shoulder.

“You’d better get going too if you want to get to UPS before 3. Take the hat, leave the wolf,” but her little joke was completely lost on Fraser. Renfield and Ray would have just rolled their eyes. Ray would have called it her weak Canadian attempt at humor.

“You’re sure?”

“Go!” she ordered.

Ben also grabbed his Stetson and was out the door in a flash.

So! She was in charge! She giggled and sat in Renfield’s chair. If only he could see her now, she thought, I wonder what he would say. Dief whined at her from under the desk. “Okay, you have got seniority! You want to answer the phone? I am positive my French is better than yours!” Dief woofed at her and closed his eyes.

After about a half hour of spinning circles in the desk chair and staring at the ceiling and sharpening about 300 pencils she was beginning to realize why Renfield was always cleaning things – there just was nothing else to do. She was sure if Meg were here there would be mountains of paperwork to copy or staple or file or all three, but right now the place was dead.

The letter carrier came and went in a big hurry apologizing for being so late and the phone rang exactly once and so far that was the extent of her job description. Just when she was thinking about vacuuming the stairs the front door open in a rush.

So excited she jumped up and was about to wish them a ‘welcome to Canada’ when she realized he didn’t need to be welcomed here he pretty much lived here, or at least it was his second home.

“Hiya,” he said.

“Hello, Ray. Ah, welcome to Canada.”

“Came ta see Fraser,” he explained the obvious. “He here?”

“He had to go to UPS to pick up some packages for Meg. She needed them as soon as she got back.”

“I’ll just be she does,” he muttered.

“What does that mean?”

“Nothin’”, he said.

“Ray, what’s going on?”

“I said nothin’.”

Kerri gave him ‘that’ look. The one that said cough it up, Buster. But that’s not what she said. She believed she no longer had the right to speak to him in that way. “Please Ray, tell me what’s going on with them?”

“She found someone else,” he stated matter-of-factly.

Kerri dropped to the chair with a thud. “Oh no!” she said with tears in her eyes. “How could she do that, hurt Ben so much?”

“Thought you knew. Thought since you ‘n her were buddies she would have said sumpthin.”

“I had no idea! I asked him and he just said they were two different people.” Tears started to spill down her cheeks. “God, I wish I’d known. I would have never brought it up. Damn!”

Ray smiled at her. “You care for them, both a them.”

“Of course!” more tears appeared. “I hate seeing them hurt! Especially Ben.”

“He’ll be okay. He’s just movin’ on down the road. Just like me.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. He changed the subject as soon as he could think of something else to say. “Yer lookin’ good. Feelin’ better? Except for the tears.” He’d finally learned to stop there and to not apologize whenever she cried.

She wiped her tears and said, “dammit! I was just feeling so good about life in general.”

“Sorry,” Ray hung his head.

“I didn’t mean” she jumped up and was around the desk in a second. She gave him a huge hug and apologized. “I didn’t mean you! This has nothing to do with you!”

Ray pushed her away abruptly. “This friends with benefits might not be such a good idea.”

“Sorry,” she said.

“I guess we’re both sorry.”

“Is there anything we can do for him? It must kill him to work with her every day and know she’s with someone else.”

“If you think of somethin’ let me know.”

Thankfully, Fraser returned before Constable Hunt and Meg. Once he’d put all of the parcels in Meg’s office he and Ray beat a hasty retreat through the back door to the alley.

“See ya later Kerri.”

“Hey Ray?” she called after him. “You know Maria Hunt?”

“Who?”

“Constable Hunt!”

“Oh yeah. What about her?”

“She loves to dance AND she loves GTOs.”

“So?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Just sayin’.” She grinned as they left the building through the back door. Maybe Ray didn’t want a girlfriend at the moment but he certainly could use a girl who was a friend. Sort of like she hoped to be – again.

It wasn’t five minutes later that Constable Hunt and Inspector Thatcher returned from the airport – through the front door.

“Just remember that for the next time.” Kerri heard her say, in full RCMP Inspector attitude, “It’s about time you learned –” Meg stopped dead in her tracks. “Kerri? Kerri!”

She hurried to her friend and drew her into a polite hug. “How long have you been here? Why didn’t anyone tell me?” She shot a withering glare at Hunt.

“I asked them not to,” Kerri lied. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Is the Corporal here too?” She looked around the room in search of Renfield.

“No, I asked him to stay in Edmonton.”

“Well,” she said, “we can talk about all of that.” She led Kerri into her office to see the parcels on her desk. “Good,” she said, “it’s here. I had a fitting in Toronto at Madeline’s and they shipped my gown. We have a charity ball this weekend.”

“We?”

“Yes Matteo and I.”

“Who’s Matteo?” Kerr asked.

“He’s the most gorgeous Chargé d'Affaires at the Italian Embassy. We’ve been seeing each other for a while now,” she bragged.

Kerri couldn’t help herself, she just blurted out, “but what about Ben? I thought –"

“Oh, that’s over. We haven’t been in touch so you couldn’t have known. He didn’t say anything?”

“No.”

“Well, I’m sorry you had to find out like this, but you’ve got to meet Matteo! He is gorgeous and refined and a marvelous dancer. He wants me go to Italy with him next month!”

Kerri was so disappointed she wanted to throw something. Here was Ben trying so hard to figure out what he’d done wrong and Meg was having him out picking up her gown for a ball – that she planned to attend with another man.

Meg pulled the gown out of the box and held it up. Then she twirled around the room holding the dress. The red dress. Kerri prayed that Ben would never see her wearing that dress, he had always loved her in red.

“I thought maybe we could go to dinner tonight, just the two of us?” Kerri asked, before Meg could ask to bring the Italian along. Kerri just knew she wouldn’t like the man who was the reason Ben had a broken heart.

“Sure, but how long are you going to be here? I’d like for you to meet him. He’s still in Toronto until Thursday.”

“I have to leave on Wednesday. Maybe another time?”

“You’re sure you can’t stay longer?”

“I’m sure.” Kerri wasn’t liking Meg too much at the moment and sort of wished that she were leaving tomorrow. She hoped that a little girl time would change her mind. She hated the idea of giving up on their friendship. “Can we spend some time together tomorrow? I was hoping for a little shopping and girl talk.”

“I’ve been gone a few days and there’s lots to do but I’ll get Constable Fraser to cover for me. So yes, let’s plan on tomorrow afternoon. Where are you staying?”

“Ah, here –"

“I should have been informed about that! I don’t have a problem with you staying here but that should have been my decision! I’m going to have to have a little chat with Constable Fraser.”

“Please don’t do that? I asked him if I could stay here since I didn’t have reservations,” she lied yet again.

“I’m getting very tired of him trying to undermine my authority. It’s going to have to end.”

“I’m sorry if I am causing trouble here. It might be better if I moved to a hotel.”

“No! That’s not necessary,” she sighed, “Fraser was just trying to be helpful – as always.”

“He’s really been helping me, Meg. Please don’t be angry with him on my account? I would be really upset if he were in trouble because of something I did.”

“And I apologize that I haven’t asked you about your health. How are you feeling?”

“I needed to get away, from all that was happening with the embezzlement and from Renfield.”

“Renfield too?” she was shocked.

“Only because I just can’t think straight when he’s around. I’ve finally admitted to myself and to him that I love him, but there are a lot of factors putting pressure on me right now so I needed to get away by myself for a while. Just being here and talking to Ben has helped a great deal. I’ve also seen Ray.”

“How did that go?” she asked, just as her phone rang. “I’ve got to take this. How about dinner in a couple of hours?” she asked, picking up the phone before Kerri could agree.

Kerri decided that she really needed to talk to Renfield. He’d promised to call but that hadn’t happened and she just could not wait any longer. She was becoming a little miffed that he didn’t seem to have time for her. What in the world could he be doing that was so darned important?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

He hated to cut Kerri’s call short, but she couldn’t have called at a worse time. The flooring guys had just arrived, and he was trying to move the kitchen cabinet doors so they could move the huge rolls of carpet more easily. Tearing out the old carpet had started right in the middle of her call.

By now it was mid-afternoon and he still hadn’t returned her call. He’d just been too busy. His painting project had to be moved – again, because Jack at the Superstore, knowing Renfield was in a rush, had sent two crews, one to install the carpeting and the other to install the vinyl. Three guys on each crew filled the little house to overflowing.

Since the carpet guys were cutting carpet in the driveway Renfield set up his makeshift workstation on the lawn in the backyard, where he spent the rest of the morning putting on the second and hopefully last coat of paint. He hoped to be able to paint the cabinet boxes this afternoon.

Things seemed to be coming together nicely. Once the flooring was in and the cabinet doors and drawer fronts were back in place he would pretty much done. And he was thrilled. Thrilled because he hoped Kerri would be thrilled, thrilled because at least this weight would be lifted off her shoulders and thrilled because he was worn out! He wouldn’t be able to tackle the garage, but maybe that would come later.

He thought of her trying to do all of this on her own and just shook his head. What with all she’d had to deal with at work and all that needed to be done here, well it might very well have killed her. He froze with his paint brush still in hand and thanked God once again that He had brought him here just in the nick of time.

Just as he was thanking God his phone rang. He smiled as he looked at the caller ID and thanked God once again.

“Hi!” he answered.

“I thought you were going to call me!”

He could hear her pouting all the way from Chicago. “I’m sorry,” with all the contrition he could muster. “I’ve been really busy and just haven’t had a chance. Forgive me?”

“Okay,” she said, but he could still hear her pout. “I miss you! Why are you so busy! You’re not working with Patrick Malone yet – are you?”

She sounded almost scared so he hurried to reassure her. “NO! We still have time to spend together! I wouldn’t do that! I’m just working on, well the surprise.”

“But you’re not going to tell me?”

Ah, that’s better, he thought. Sounds like she’s lost the pout. “Nope!”

“Can you at least tell me what you’re doing right now?”

“Well, before I answered the phone I was praying.”

“Are you at church?”

“No, you know you don’t have to be at church to pray. I’m standing in your backyard.”

“Praying? Is that all your doing?”

“Nope.”

“What else?”

Renfield chuckled, “ah, that’s the surprise!”

“And you’re not going to tell me – PLEASE!”

“Nope!”

“Rats!” she exclaimed. “Oh! I forgot! Guess what I did for a couple of hours this afternoon!”

“Sleep?”

“No silly! I was in charge of the Consulate!”

“What!” he laughed. “Seriously?”

“Well Diefenbaker had seniority, but he can’t speak French. So yes! I sat at your desk and everything.” When he didn’t say anything she had to ask, “are you still there?”

“Um, yeah. I was just ah, imagining you in red serge.”

Kerri giggled, and although he would never admit to giggling, so did Renfield.

But then she turned serious.

“I’ve got something to talk to you about.”

When she hesitated for far too long he was forced to ask, “what?”

Kerri had to collect her thoughts. She didn’t want to tell Renfield that she had been talking to Ray or that Ray was the one who told her about Meg’s new love interest. “Meg came back from Toronto today –"

“Great! Now you two can –"

“She broke up with Ben because she found another man.”

After a very long pause Renfield said, “what?”

“She found someone else!” Both of them thought she might start to cry. “She came back all dancing around with a new ball gown and telling me all about this Italian guy who’s handsome and dashing and he wants to take her to Italy. She even made Ben go pick up the gown because it was shipped from Toronto!”

“Okay! Wait!” Renfield took over the conversation. “Did she take up with the Italian guy –"

“His name’s Matteo. And I don’t know exactly when they got together.”

“So all you know at this point is that the Inspector has a new love interest.”

“And Ben is broken hearted.”

I can see how he would be, Renfield thought. “Have you talked to either of them?”

“I spoke to Ben a couple of days ago. You know him, he’s as tight lipped as they come. He just said they were two different people.”

“He’s right, you know.”

“Yes, but he tried so hard and he loves her very much!”

Listening to her concern for their friends warmed Renfield’s heart. She was turning back into the old Kerri, the Kerri who loved her friends and was more concerned for their welfare than she was for her own.

“May I make a suggestion?” he asked softly.

“Sure,” she said, but was not at all sure she’d like it.

“Talk to the Inspector? Ask her for her side of the story. Don’t just make a snap decision that she’s in the wrong? Constable Fraser is a wonderful man, but he’s not perfect. None of us is. I would bet there’s more to this than you know. And,” he paused trying to find the right words, “be happy for Margaret? She’s been a good friend to both of us and I do not believe she would hurt Fraser intentionally.”

Kerri knew he was right. She didn’t like it, but she knew. “You always look for the best in everyone, you know?”

“As do you. And as you well know if you look hard enough you’ll most always find it.”

Renfield heard someone call her name.

“Meg and I are going out to dinner and she’s ready to leave. I’ll call you tomorrow?” after a very short pause she continued, “I love you.”

“I miss you and love you too.”

The flooring crews were done shortly after Renfield ended their call. He hadn’t wanted to get in the way so he’d stayed outside the entire day. It was a good thing that they finished when they did because the house painters were just about ready to start spraying the back of the house and he was going to have to move his work area – once again.

Since he had stayed out of everyone’s way he also had not seen the flooring as a work in progress. Now, as he walked through the house he was greatly impressed.

“Looks pretty good, don’t it?” Don said. Renfield knew he was Don because it said so on his shirt.

“Very nice! You fellows do great work. My wife is going to love this – it’s such a vast improvement!”

“I think what we pulled up must have been the original carpet. That old rubber padding was almost completely shot. It sort of came out as a dust cloud. Somebudy put new linoleum down in the kitchen, musta been in the mid-50s cause vinyl came in about then. Good thing cause we could lay that new stuff right over the old. Like that old range, looks brand new. You have sumbudy restore it?” Renfield smiled and held up his hand. “Good work. The Missuz would love one a those. They’re really expensive!”

“Well the floors look wonderful! Thanks so much for the quick work. My wife’s had her hands full with that embezzlement thing over a McCord’s so she –"

“I thought you looked familiar! You’re that Mountie guy from the TV! That pretty lady lives here?” Jesse, or so said his shirt, asked.

Renfield grinned, “it’s her family home.”

“Well thanks for kettchin’ that guy!”

Renfield returned the compliment, “and thank you for a job well done.”

And with that the flooring crews were gone.

The painters were just a little behind the flooring guys. They were also a little behind in their estimate of how long the job would take, but a few hours tomorrow morning and they’d be done and gone for good.

Renfield walked back into the house and into the kitchen, the smell of vinyl adhesive, new carpet and oil based paint assailing his nose. But he rather like the smells – they represented hard work and new beginnings.

What those smells were not good for however was one’s appetite or one’s ability to sleep. He decided that dinner at a local diner and a good night’s sleep at the hotel was just what the doctor ordered.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If Kerri thought that her dinner with Meg would answer her questions about Ben she was wrong. Before they left the Consulate Meg insisted that Constable Hunt drive them in the consulate car to Stetson’s Chop House at the Hyatt. Kerri would have much preferred the diner around the corner or even a TGI Fridays, but Meg insisted. So Kerri ran back upstairs threw on a nicer pair of slacks and a blouse and blazer. She took her hair out of its ponytail and let it fall free. Such was her homage to fancy dining.

Constable Hunt was much friendlier than earlier in the day but obviously uncomfortable driving the big car. She didn’t want to try to parallel park so she dropped them off at the front entrance of the hotel exactly at their reservation time. Apparently Meg liked the idea of making a grand entrance and she was successful. Two beautiful women confidently walking through the crowded restaurant unescorted always turned heads. That is to say one confident woman and the other wanting to crawl under the nearest table and hide. Kerri hated few things as much as being stared at.

The restaurant was busy and loud and Kerri knew that any chance for intimate conversation wasn’t going to happen tonight. She just smiled bravely and took her seat. They looked at their menus without comment for a few minutes and when their waiter came Kerri wanted to say ‘I’ll have a burger and fries’. What she actually ordered was a black and bleu salad and sparkling water. Meg ordered the lamb chop, medium with asparagus and hollandaise and a bottle of Dolcetto. The waiter disappeared with their orders.

“You have to try the wine! Matteo is teaching me all about fine Italian wines. Dolcetto will pair wonderfully with the lamb. We will probably tour several vineyards on our trip,” she bragged.

“I’ve stopped drinking,” Kerri said with no further explanation.

Meg eyed Kerri over her water glass. “If I didn’t know you couldn’t be I’d think you were pregnant!” Meg chuckled.

Kerri stared at her very briefly and then she looked away. She picked up the napkin the waiter had placed on her lap, laid it carefully beside her plate, picked up her bag, got up and left the table, never looking at Meg again.

She made her way to the front of the hotel and asked the doorman to hail her a cab. Once in the cab she asked the driver to take her to the Canadian Consulate. She rode the short distance in silence. Once they arrived at the Consulate she paid the driver but asked him to wait. She barely made it through the front door before she started to cry.

Diefenbaker saw her first, running to greet her he was shoved out of the way as she ran up the stairs. It wasn’t but 2 minutes later that Fraser rushed into the bedroom.

“Diefenbaker said you – what is it?” he asked, alarmed as he saw her packing.

“I can’t stay here. I have to leave.”

He couldn’t see her face but he could hear the tears in her voice. “What’s happened?” he asked gently. “Please let me help.”

Kerri kept throwing her things in a bag and didn’t bother to answer him. And then he saw it – the beginnings of a panic attack. He recognized the signs from things Turnbull and later Ray had told him. He’d been told she was capable of handling it and that she had to just ride it out, but he helped her to sit on the bed and then he sat beside her, holding her hand.

It didn’t take long, just a few minutes for the attack to pass. When it had subsided she said, “I’ve got a taxi waiting, I have to go.” She got up to leave but Fraser held her back.

“You are NOT going anywhere. I’m going down to release the taxi and then we can talk.” He ran down the stairs, through the front door, down the walk, up to the driver, threw some pink money at him and then retraced his steps. The whole thing took less than a minute. And then he was sitting beside her again.

“Do you want me to call Renfield? Maybe he can help?”

Kerri was horrified. “NO!” she almost yelled at him. “No. He can’t know about this. He was so happy that we were having girl time and that we might be good friends again.” She looked at him pleading him with her eyes, “you have to promise me you won’t tell him about this!”

“I think you need to tell me what ‘this’ is before I can make that promise.”

She just sadly shook her head. “She knows how much I suffered when I lost the baby! She was there, she knows. She knows that I can never -- She helped me so much but tonight she laughed at me because I wasn’t drinking – I stopped because,” she looked at Ben with wide eyes afraid to reveal Renfield’s secret.

“You stopped because of Turnbull’s issues with alcohol.”

“You know?” When Ben nodded she went on, “she said if she didn’t know better she’d think I was pregnant and then she laughed. She knows but she still laughed. How could she hurt me like that? Renfield said I should give her a chance to tell me her side of…of…”

“Of why she broke it off with me?” he whispered.

Kerri couldn’t say the words so she just nodded.

“I’m sorry this had to happen.” He got up and walked to the window. “We just couldn’t work it out. Then she found him and I was replaced. It had to happen, I just can’t live the life she wants for herself. But after, after we split up she started treating everyone from her past differently. She vacillates between being extremely happy, almost giddy and being a witch. It’s as if she has to push her old friends away to justify pushing me away. I’m sure she didn’t mean to do what she did, say what she said - she is not a cruel person. I’m sure she regrets it already.”

“You’re apologizing for her. Even after she treated you so shamefully.”

“She hurt me, yes. But I let her. If I’d tried harder maybe we could have worked it out.”

“You’re a good man Ben, you deserve better than that!” She thought about what she said and added, “and so do I! I just ran away like a hurt little girl! I should have stood my ground and told her that what she said was not acceptable!”

“Ah!” he said as he turned to smile at her, that smile that had always warmed her heart, a smile that she had seen far too infrequently. “There she is! The Kerri that I remember! Standing up for herself again. What is it that I’ve heard the Americans say so often? Ah, yes – you go girl!”

Kerri laughed, really laughed and it fell so good. Seeing her reaction caused Ben to laugh too.

“Better now?” he asked.

“Better now,” she said.

Chapter 22

**Tuesday**

Tuesday was shopping day. Renfield had never been much of a gardener, that was his Dad’s thing. When he was a boy one of his chores was to weed the garden. He had hated it then and really didn’t care much for it now either. There were a few flower beds around his office in Fraser Lake but he always had Constable Meyer or Ruth take care of them. Ruth really liked to putter in the garden.

But here he was at the garden center looking for plants to give color to the front of the house. He found a woman who was just setting out early spring plants and begged her assistance. He showed her a picture on his phone and told her his thoughts.

“I need something for color right now,” he said. “We’re redoing this old house and need lots of color.”

She studied the picture of the small yellow and white cottage and frowned. “It’s pretty early in the season for color and most of what we have is pretty small but,” she obviously had an idea because she walked away, expecting Renfield to follow her. “This Veronica is very nice. The blue would look great up against the house.”

“I think we had this in our garden when I was a kid, but it had a different name.”

“Speedwell?”

“That’s it! I’ll take some of that.”

“You’re not going to find any kind of vine for your arbor that’s already established so I’d suggest a couple of morning glories. You have to remember with morning glories they’ll take over if not kept after. They grow REALLY fast. For in front of the picket fence let’s get you some crocus, and snowdrops. They already blooming and even though they stay low to the ground you’ll still get the pretty effect. And cosmos seeds. Cosmos will look great in front of the fence. And a rambling rose! We’ve got bare root stock. Pink I think. Maybe two plants on each section fence. It will take a while for them to cover the fence, but when they do they will be beautiful. And…

The lady went on and on. Unlike the kid at the electronics store she had found an easy mark in Renfield. By the time they were done Renfield had an empty wallet and Ted’s truck full of planting soil, something called mushroom compost and manure, all sizes of shrubs and flowers, a couple of ornamental trees, bulbs and seeds – lots of seeds.

As he drove the truck, or as Ted called it – The Heap – back to Kerri’s house he was severely overwhelmed. He was very glad that Nick and the guys were coming over after school, it was going to take forever to get all this stuff in the ground. Fortunately, Ted was an avid gardener so he would help supervise.

He might have been overwhelmed by the load in the back of The Heap but he was also happy. He missed Kerri terribly and was excited to see her reaction to all that he had done, but he was also more at peace with himself than he’d been for a long time. He found himself whistling some mindless tune and chuckled. He was feeling goofy.

As he drove up to the front of the house he was once again reminded of the marvelous transformation. Kerri was going to be so excited.

He unloaded the plants and placed the nursery pots exactly where he thought they should go, placed the flats of crocus and snowdrops along the front of the little picket fence, put the roses in their places and then unloaded the bags of soil. Once he’d made her front yard look like a construction zone he returned Ted’s truck.

With that done he went in to tackle the last of the painting. There weren’t many cabinet boxes so painting them shouldn’t take him long at all. Then tomorrow he’d…Kerri was coming home tomorrow! He was so thrilled at the thought he did a little happy dance in her kitchen, holding a freshly painted cabinet door.

By mid-afternoon, the furniture showed up. He found something to prop open the screen door and let the guys bring the sofa in. He had already moved the twin bed out of Kerri’s bedroom so all he really needed to do was direct traffic. But as the furniture arrived so did Nick and his friends. Renfield was just a little flummoxed as to what to do first. He could direct the furniture guys or direct his garden work crew. He quickly decided the first thing he should probably do was put down his paint brush. The rest would follow.

It only took a few minutes and then the delivery guys were gone. Now to the hard part – working in the garden. At least there weren’t any weeds to pull – yet. He hurried to the front yard to find Ted already hard at work telling the boys what to do and where to go.

“Sorry!” Ted said. “You looked like ya had yer hands full so I thought I’d get ‘em started. Hope ya don’t mind.”

“Of course not! I appreciate the help.” He looked around the yard at the beehive of activity. “All the help.”

The boys planted the trees and the bushes with Ted showing them how to amend the soil and get the plants in to exactly the right depth. Renfield watched closely as he was beginning to get the idea of what all this love of gardening stuff was really about. No wonder there were so many gardening shows on TV and why the gardening section of the bookshop had always been so busy in the Spring.

“Where ya want these seeds?” Nick asked Renfield and his grandfather. Ted looked at Renfield and Renfield looked at Ted. They had run out of ideas.

Finally Renfield just said, “uh…put the cosmos in front of the fence and the morning glory by the arbor and the rest – well just surprise me.”

They finished just before dark.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kerri went into Meg’s office and parked herself in a chair where Meg would see her the moment she walked in. Kerri had spent the better part of last night preparing for exactly what she would say when that moment occurred.

Finally, at about 5 minutes after 9am she heard Meg barking out orders to Constable Hunt. Then just seconds later she burst into the room. Totally taken aback by the presence of Kerri she stopped in her tracts.

“Good morning, Meg,” Kerri said quietly.

Meg didn’t reply but walked to her desk and sat down. “Kerri, I –"

Kerri held up her hand to stop Meg. “I have something to say and then I will let you get to work.” She took a deep breath and began, “you and I have been friends, good friends for several years. We have seen each other through some very bad times and some very, very good times. I have always been a friend to you. But what you did last night was unconscionable.” She held up her hand as Meg started to interrupt. “You have moved on without Ben. I don’t understand it but he has accepted the situation so I will follow his lead and accept it too. But what I cannot accept, will NOT accept is the way you have changed toward me. And him for that matter. I sincerely hope you are happy with Matteo but that in no way gives you the right to make those around you, your friends, miserable. I’ll give you a chance to think about this and if you decide my friendship is important you can let me know. Then I will decide what I want to do.” She stood up and started across the room to the door.

“I’m sorry,” Meg whispered just loudly enough for Kerri to hear.

“What?”

“I said I was sorry,” she repeated a little more loudly and with more conviction.

Kerri didn’t respond but returned to where she was sitting.

“What I said to you, God, Kerri I am so sorry. And to answer your unspoken question, no I am not happy with Matteo.” Kerri waited for her to continue. “I tried to make myself happy, to believe I could be happy with him but the more unhappy I became the more I tried to make others around me unhappy. And then you show up and are trying so hard to put your life back together and I just wanted you to be as unhappy as I am. But—"

“But?”

It took her a long time but she finally admitted to Kerri what she had finally admitted to herself – about 3am. “I still love Ben.”

Kerri wanted to jump for joy! But she knew nothing was ever that easy. Just admitting it wasn’t the end, by any means. She remained quiet and let Meg do the talking.

“I knew I was hurting him. I knew he was trying so hard to be what he thought I wanted him to be. And the harder he tried the more I hurt him.”

“And the more you hurt yourself?” Kerri asked.

Meg nodded. “Loving him isn’t easy.”

Kerri looked at her and smiled. “I think you are looking at half of a team that gives a new definition to love that’s not easy.”

“So,” Meg said, “what do I do now?”

“Well,” Kerri thought about it for less than a split second, “first we go buy shoes. Lots and lots of shoes!”

They were about to walk out of her office when Meg stopped. “I really am sorry about what I said.”

“Good! You should be and I forgive you. Now let’s go – shoes are waiting!”

For the rest of the morning and the better part of the afternoon Meg and Kerri walked the mall rekindling their friendship. They did buy shoes, at least Kerri did, the first new pair she gotten since before Renfield went undercover.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so thrilled with a new pair of shoes!” Meg laughed.

“It’s been a long time,” Kerri admitted.

They had a light lunch at the food court and talked for a long time. Meg finally admitted that Matteo was sort of a jerk – good looking, a terrific dancer and great at picking out the right wine, but a jerk none the less. And Kerri finally got the chance to tell her that she loved Renfield. Not again but still.

They both admitted that they had truly missed each other. Meg carefully avoided mentioning their raining Saturday afternoon chats in the tearoom of the bookshop, however. She knew without doubt that the subject of Great Expectations and her time there was not something Kerri wanted to talk about.

Meg finally asked about Ray. “Have you seen him? I’m not his favorite person so I never speak to him.”

“If you and Ben could work out your differences and become at least friends maybe that will change?”

“Possibly, but we’ve never been what I would call friends. Have you seen him?” she asked again.

“Yes. We agreed to try and be friends again. He and Renfield have done the same. I’m not sure what that will look like, but we’re going to try. I truly miss him.”

Meg grinned. “He always had your best interests at heart. That’s probably the only thing I admire about him."

“Oh, I don’t know. I always sort of admired his taste in clothing.”

“And his hair styles?”

They both laughed, not so much at Kowalski’s expense, but more that they were able to joke around as friends again.

Kerri was feeling good about the world in general as they continued their leisurely walk around the mall. It was so good just to be living again.

“What are you smiling about?” Meg asked.

“I’m just happy to be living a normal existence again!”

“I really wish you had felt you could call me when everything started to go badly.”

“I was just lost. Totally lost,” she admitted. But then she realized that was the past. The future would be what she made of it. “Now I have a decision to make.”

So she finally told Meg about Renfield and the position he had been offered. Once Meg recovered from the shock of ‘her constable’ working for the CAFC Kerri told her the rest.

“You’d be second in command! That is fantastic! Isn’t that sort of your dream job, I mean after the ah –"

“After the bookshop?” She missed Great Expectations and all it represented, but that was also the past. “Yes, it’s my second dream job. My future dream job.”

They stopped at a coffee kiosk and ordered a couple of iced teas. Then they sat and chatted some more.

“You said you had a decision to make?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Renfield has wonderful plans for us –"

“There’s nothing new about that!” Meg grinned.

“And most of his wonderful plans have worked out beautifully. It’s just that I don’t know if, if I’m ready to –"

“To trust him?”

“Yeah. I love him and I want to accept the position, when it’s offered –"

“It hasn’t been offered yet?”

“Not officially. Walter didn’t want to talk to me because of my health, so he asked Renfield. Tom Rigby came to talk to me without my knowing who he was or why he was there.”

“Knowing Superintendent Scott he’s not going to take no for an answer.”

“And I plan on saying yes. But I haven’t decided what to do about Renfield. I think he wants us to resume our marriage, to go to Toronto and live together as man and wife. I think he wants to spend the rest of his life making up to me for what he did.”

“He did his duty.”

“But he hurt me and he hurt Ray – unintentionally – but he hasn’t completely forgiven himself for that. That’s why I needed to get away. I needed to think and I can’t think straight with him around.”

“Sexual attraction just too strong?” Meg grinned and Kerri blushed.

“Yep.” Then they both laughed. “And I think it’s even stronger now! He’s changed so much.”

“I noticed that when he was sitting in my office. He’s gotten more self-confident and lost that slightly clueless look. And, okay, I’ll admit more handsome too.” She grinned at her friend.

“Hence my not being able to think straight in his presence.” They both laughed again.

“It’s getting close to dinner time. Should we try for more casual dining this evening? How about the diner around the corner from the Consulate?” she asked. “It’s Ben’s favorite.”

Great! Kerri thought. “Great!” she said.

“Shopping and food,” Meg commented on their ride back to the Consulate. “How much more fun could there be?”

She glanced at Kerri to find her blushing. “Oh my! Okay, that’s fun too!” They both giggled as Meg parked the car.

“Wait for me just a sec, I need to use the washroom.” Kerri ran into the building wildly searching for Ben. Instead she found Maria. “Is Ben here?” Kerri asked breathlessly. When Maria shook her head Kerri continued, “see if you can find him. Tell him if he wants to change his life he needs to be at the diner in about a half hour. Tell him to come ALONE! It’s important!” Kerri calmed herself and started to walk back outside.

“You trying to match make – again?”

“I’m working on it,” Kerri called over her shoulder.

“Let’s go eat!” she said as she met Meg who was standing by her car.

When they chose a booth in the diner Kerri made sure that Meg sat with her back to the door. If the stars aligned, if Maria was able to locate Ben, if Ben was able to get here in time, if he wanted to stay once he saw Meg and if Kerri could figure out a way to leave them alone – then, maybe Meg and Ben could work it out. That last part was entirely up to them.

“You must not be very hungry. You’ve hardly touched your burger. You feeling okay?”

“Absolutely! The panic attacks are happening far less frequently. I’ve still got to schedule some therapy sessions, but things have just been happening too fast. There hasn’t been time to catch my breath. Being here, away from that awful old house in Edmonton, seeing Ray and you and – Hi Ben!”

“Hello. Hello Inspector,” Ben said.

“Fancy meeting you here!” Kerri scooted out of the booth as she motioned to Ben, “sit.” Then to both of them – “talk! And if you don’t tell each other the things you’ve told me I WILL!” Then she left the diner.

When she got back to the Consulate Kerri found Ray, perched on Renfield’s desk talking to Maria. They were deep in discussion of the relative merits between the ’67 GTO and the ’67 Malibu SS.

“…n what planet?” Ray demanded. “’67 GTO can run circles round the Malibu.”

“And again I say the Malibu is seconds faster off the line! Plus, it’s got a bigger engine. Look it up.”

“Ray, why don’t you just give the girl a ride in your car and prove your point?” Sometimes Americans could be so dense, Kerri thought.

As Kerri climbed the stairs Ray and Maria were on their way out the front door, arguing all the way when she heard him ask Maria – “ya like pizza?”

She had just settled on the bed, nestled with lots of pillows and holding her phone when it rang.

“Hi!” she answered, wanting to jump right through the phone and smother him with kisses. “Guess what!”

“I haven’t even had the chance to say hi yet! Hi!”

“Guess what!” she giggled.

Renfield really didn’t care what. He was just so excited to hear her voice. She sounded almost carefree and so much like her old self. “Okay, what?”

“I’m coming HOME TOMORROW!”

Oh, that ‘what’! So he really did care, a lot! “And I am so glad –"

“You sound tired. You’re not getting sick?”

“No, just been working hard and missing you.”

“Whatcya been workin’ on, hmm?”

“Don’t try that coy stuff on me lady! You know I’m not going to tell you!”

“Rats!”

Renfield chuckled. “God I miss you!”

“Me too! But I’ve been busy too!”

“Whatcya been workin’ on, hmm?”

Now Kerri laughed. “Well, I had a sort of a fight with Meg, had a make-up with Meg, found out that Matteo is a jerk, fixed up a lovesick Constable with Ray, maybe got Ben and Meg back together again and oh yes, I bought a new pair of shoes!” she said in a rush.

He was silent for a few moments and then asked, “what kind of shoes did you get?”

“RENFIELD!”

Laughing again he asked, “please tell me what on earth you’ve done!"

She told him all about Maria and her unrequited love for Ray, how Meg had admitted that she loved Ben, but didn’t know how to show it, how Meg had said some very rude things to her and she’d put her foot down and oh, yes, the shoes were Michael Kors.

“You did all that since the last time I talked to you?”

“I learned from the master! I’ve been watching you do this sort of thing for years.”

“Not everything I did worked out so well, if you remember,” he admitted with just a slight tinge of sadness in his voice.

“Yes, but a lot of it did. And those that didn’t work out did not end badly, people remained friends.”

“Tell me about the lovesick Constable? Who –"

“Constable Hunt.”

“The young woman who took over my position?” Renfield sounded incredulous.

“Yes! She’s very nice and she really likes him. She likes to dance and cook and she’s learning about cars!”

“But she’s –"

“If you say unattractive I am going to reach right through this phone and throttle you!”

“I hope you know I would never even think something like that! I was going to say Canadian!” Kerri was Canadian and that hadn’t stopped Ray, but he didn’t think of that. Kerri did, but she wasn’t about to say anything.

“I wouldn’t have thought she’d be his type, but if you think so, then I wish them the best.”

They chatted on and on. This was the first time since he’d shown up on her doorstep that they’d had the time to just sit and talk. They talked about senseless stuff and important stuff, about friends near and far, about world politics and their favorite restaurants in Edmonton and Chicago, and what their favorite menu items were at each.

Finally, Renfield asked her, “please tell me the truth? Are the panic attacks getting better?”

Kerri measured her response very slowly. “Yes, in that I am able to control them with the techniques you showed me. I’ve had a few since I’ve been here but they seem to be less severe.”

“When you get back we need to get you to the doctor.” He turned very serious. “We need to find out the root cause.” Renfield had barely allowed himself to think that he might be that cause.

Kerri read his thoughts. “I don’t think there is any one cause. I think it’s a combination of many things that have happened. I lost so much and then the mess in Edmonton, the house, just everything piled on me and I couldn’t handle it.”

“I love you so much and I am so sorry to have been a part of what caused all of this.”

She tried to be as upbeat as possible, knowing how her words would affect him. “All that happened in Chicago was part of it, yes. A small part. But what you have done for me since – I don’t think you really understand how much your just being there for me has meant. I can’t say it enough – you saved me from, well I shudder to think. But beyond me you need to take care of yourself too! I know that all of this has been harder on you than me.”

“Thank you.”

Kerri knew that he hadn’t completely let himself off the hook but she was beginning to think she was getting through to him. She would have to work on him even more.

By the time they said goodnight they had talked for 2 hours. Both of them ended their call feeling closer than ever. And aching for tomorrow night when they could be together again.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Today was the day! Today she would be coming home. He’d decided since she wouldn’t be getting in until after dark he’d have to hold off on showing her all he’d done until tomorrow morning. He kept reminding himself that it was for her health, so she wouldn’t have to worry. But, if he admitted it, he’d done all of this work for himself too. Just to see her smile and be, he hoped, overjoyed was something he had always lived for.

After she’d had the miscarriage and he had bought the bookshop for her he had basked in her glow for months. He had been as proud of himself then as he hope to be now. She had made a home with him there, surrounded herself with friends and healed from her loss. He prayed to God that He would help her heal now.

He walked around the little house and marveled at the transformation. He mentally ticked off the items left to be done and hoped it was enough to keep him busy for the rest of the day. He still had to install the hardware and hang the cupboard doors and put everything back in the drawers and cupboards – not that there was much to put away. It still hurt him to know how Kerri had been living. A couple of plates, bowls and glasses, a few pieces of silverware and a very dull chef’s knife. He had told her over and over again that dull knives were dangerous! he thought. But all of these things she had apparently purchased at a thrift store to just make do. She’d lived her entire life this past year in just the same manner – making do.

But not anymore! He would see to that!

A tour of the house and yard revealed little else to do. So, he set about finishing the kitchen. He decided to make a trip to the garden center again for a bouquet of hot house spring flowers and a vase to set on the new coffee table. Kerri had once said that daisies made her smile, so daisies would predominate.

He was done with the kitchen by mid-afternoon, had swept the front walk and porch for the third time, straightened closets and made the new bed with new sheets and a blanket. He covered it with the blue patterned comforter that the clerk said matched his eyes and then there was absolutely nothing left to do. That scared him a little, there would now be nothing to occupy his mind – except Kerri and thinking only of her made him miss her all the more.

He decided he needed someone to talk to so he went next door.

“Hiya!” Ted said as Renfield came to the door. “Ya here for borrowin’ or talkin’?”

“I apologize if I’ve borrowed too many things lately.”

Ted motioned for them to sit on the porch.

“No problem! Just glad for the company and boy does that house look pretty! Them kids did a bang up job. Yer payin’ them too much, by the way. Now Nicky is gonna want me to pay him the same.”

“There’s a difference between doing a job to help out your family and doing a job to earn money! Good Lord I sound just like my father!”

“Wise man,” Ted smiled. “He live around here?"

“Vancouver. He owns a bakery.”

“That were ya learned ta cook so good?”

“No, I think my love of cooking comes from my Mum. She died when I was 12, but I remember spending many happy hours in the kitchen with her. Dad wanted me to weed the garden.”

“Now he sounds like me!” Ted chuckled. “Thanks for talkin’ ta Nicky about his folks. He doesn’t open up to us old folks much.”

“Sometimes a guy’s just got to talk to another guy – who’s not his grandpa.”

“Yep,” Ted agreed.

Renfield stood. “Well I need to go back to the hotel to get ready for Kerri. Thanks again for all of your help the last few days! You and the boys have been a real God send.”

“Loved doin’ it and the boys loved the cash. Plus it’s good to be livin’ next to a house that looks so good. It really picks up the neighborhood. We’ll be watchin’ through the windows tomorrow mornin’ when you bring her home!”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kerri was up, showered, dressed, packed, put clean sheets on the bed and ready to go by 7am. The problem was that her flight didn’t leave until 3:00 and she didn’t even need to be to the airport until 1:00. Now what was she going to do?

She wasn’t even sure there was anyone around. Meg and Maria weren’t due until 9 and Ben, well Ben might be here, and he might not. She hoped not – she hoped he might have spent the night with…well enough of that. That was between him and Meg and she would NOT butt in anymore.

She moved her bag to the hall and went back to check a third time to ensure she hadn’t forgotten anything. She thought about calling Renfield but decided to save that call for later. She dragged her bag back into the room and rummaged though it to find her book.

Then she curled up on the window seat and tried to read. Around 8 she heard Ben and Dief come in. She wanted to run down the stairs and ask him – but no she would NOT butt in. She stayed put.

Dief came trotting in a few minutes later and jumped up on the window seat to lick her face. “Good morning to you too!” Kerri giggled as he continued. “I still don’t have any donuts, you know.”

“But you look marvelous!”

She pushed Dief’s muzzle aside to see Ben standing in the doorway. She didn’t even need to ask, the happiness was written in his smile. “Thank you! And may I return the compliment?” For as much as Kerri loved red serge Ben had always looked handsome in anything he wore, and especially now with jeans and an Aran sweater – and that beautiful smile.

She wanted so badly to ask but knew first of all that it would be rude and second of all it was none of her business. So she said, “thank you. I feel marvelous.”

“I’m extremely glad that we will be sending you home looking so well. If we had damaged you in any way I’m afraid Turnbull might have damaged us,” he chuckled. “Dief, if you want breakfast come now or don’t come!” Dief jumped down and ran after him. Before he was out of sight Ben leaned back into the room and said, “yes.” And then he left, a very self-satisfied smile on his lips.

Kerri was confused momentarily and then she knew. The happiness just washed over her. She would have to remind Renfield so they could both pray that Ben and Meg were able to find their way – together.

She sat in the window for a couple of hours, but found she’d only read about 2 pages – and those she had to reread 3 times. She just couldn’t concentrate, the closer she got to home the more she knew she needed to give everyone an answer.

She heard Maria moving around downstairs, answering the phone and performing her duties, but she wasn’t going to pry there either. She didn’t know her well enough to be a confidant and doubted Maria trusted her enough to confide in her anyway. If Maria wanted to tell her anything she would. Kerri could only pray that Ray had found someone who could be his friend. Maybe a friend with benefits? She chuckled.

Even though she wasn’t very hungry she knew she need to have a little something so she ventured into the kitchen. The bagels were gone but she did find a Tim Hortons box so she helped herself. She wondered if Dief had – well that’s just silly, she thought. Dief couldn’t drive a car or dial a phone. She walked back upstairs chuckling and munching on her donut.

At about noon Ben poked his head into the bedroom. “The Inspector just called. She’s stuck in meetings at EDC and is not going to make it back in time to take you to the airport.”

“EDC?”

“Export Development Canada.”

“Yes, I know what it is, I just didn’t know they have offices here. Boy have I been out of the loop!”

“But maybe not for much longer. If you’re ready I will be your chauffeur.”

“Oh I’m ready! More than ready.”

Ben had little to say on the drive to the airport but Kerri was so anxious to get going that she really didn’t notice. Thoughts of finally seeing Renfield filled her mind.

Finally when they were almost to the airport Ben said, “the two of you never cease to amaze me.”

“What? Why?”

“The way you always find you way back to each other.”

“We do seem to do that. Although it seems each time it is a little harder.”

“This time it’s been especially hard on you. We’ve been very worried about you. I wish I could have helped you or Turnbull or both.”

“These last few days you have helped me a lot.”

“As have you, helped me, that is.”

“I wasn’t going to ask.”

“I appreciate that. As it is there is not much to say. But we agreed to try again.”

“I’m glad.”

“It’s not going to be easy.”

“Nothing worth having ever is. A very wise RCMP Corporal once told me that.” She grinned at him as he pulled up to the curb.

“It looks like I might be calling him for advice,” Ben grinned back at her as she climbed out of the car.

She grabbed her bag out of the back seat and said, “goodbye, Ben. Tell Meg I’ll be in touch when I’ve figured out what I’m going to do.”

He watched as Kerri disappeared into the crowded terminal. “Godspeed Kerri Turnbull,” he muttered as he pulled away from the curb.

Not only did Kerri have a black belt in hotel points she also had one in airline miles. Checking into first class got her through the lines at security and she was at her gate within about 15 minutes. Being an Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge member brought her all the perks she needed to have a relaxing wait and an even more relaxing flight. But she didn’t really care about that she just wanted to be HOME!

She sat down in the lounge, ordered a virgin bloody Mary and got on her phone. “Hi! I’m at the airport.”

“Are you sitting in one of those luxury lounges getting a massage or something?”

“Well I’m in the lounge, but there’s not a masseuse in sight. I’m having a virgin bloody Mary and some snacks I think.”

“Did you have lunch? You know you shouldn’t fly without eating first.”

“Yes Mommy!” She didn’t tell him that lunch consisted of a donut. “And they will have food on the plane. First class always has great food.”

“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never flown first class.”

“Poor baby! You’ve got a choice, well three choices. You can pay through the nose for a ticket or you can spend 75% of your life flying and get up graded or you can fly occasionally and be satisfied with steerage.”

“Knowing how hard it was on you to fly so much I think I’ll only fly once in a while and settle for steerage.”

“Ah, but you get the best of both – because you know ME!”

“Yes I do!” He turned serious. “And I thank God that I do.”

“Ben drove me to the airport. He and Meg have decided to try again.”

“I’m so glad!”

“He said he might be in touch with you for advice.”

“What! Me?”

Kerri giggled. “He thinks of you as a role model.”

She giggled again, she could just see him puff up with pride. He had always thought of Ben as super Mountie, a man to emulate. To think of Constable Fraser coming to him for advice made him very proud.

“How much longer do you have to wait to board?”

“About 45 minutes I guess. The plane is on time so I should be to the hotel by 8 or so.”

“You sure you don’t want me to pick you up?”

“No. A shuttle is much easier, especially for you. That way you don’t have to make that awful drive twice.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I know you don’t and that’s one of the reasons I love you.”

“I love you too. I’ll see you about 8. I’m so excited to hold you in my arms."

“Me too,” she said. “Bye.”

He drove back to the hotel dreaming of the time when they could be together for at least 3 weeks of uninterrupted relaxation. Kerri would have time to do absolutely nothing if she wished or do everything she wished. He would continue to help her heal.

Renfield had barely made it into their hotel room when his phone rang. He’d just talked to Kerri, so unless she wanted to say ‘I love you’ one more time, he doubted it was her, especially since her flight should be taking off right about now. He didn’t recognize the number on the caller ID but answered anyway. If it was a telemarketer he could always identify himself as a police officer – that always got them to hang up!

“Turnbull here,” he answered.

“Turnbull it’s Deputy Chief Inspector Whittle. I’m on speaker with Superintendent Scott.”

Renfield stood just a little straighter, “yes, Sir!” he said and waited for the rest.

“Look Turnbull there’s no easy way to say this. Concepción Juarez is dead. She was shot to death on the street in Cali.” When he didn’t respond Scott took over.

“We know how important she was to you, Son,” Scott said. “She was a true hero in every sense of the word. If it makes it any easier we know she didn’t suffer, she died instantly.” Scott paused to catch his breath and realized Turnbull hadn’t said a word or uttered a sound. “Are you there?”

His reply was very slow in coming. “Yes, Sir."

“Is there anything the RCMP can do?” Whittle asked.

“No, Sir. Thank you for letting me know,” Turnbull said and abruptly hung up. He made his way to the nearest chair, sat and buried his face in his hands.

Whittle and Scott looked at the disconnected phone with deep frowns.

“Damn it!” Scott swore. “Those two have had ENOUGH!"

“Will he be okay with this?” Whittle asked.

“I don’t know,” Scott admitted sadly. “I really don’t know.”

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

By the time the shuttle dropped her off at the hotel Kerri was beside herself with anticipation. She had missed her man more than she’d thought humanly possible and the closer she got to him the more she ached just to see his smile.

She was glad the weather was much warmer here than in Chicago, which was yet another reason she was glad to be home. Even with the temperature drop after nightfall, it was still comfortably warm. She waved at the two clerks and the reception desk and walked briskly to the elevator, pulling her roll-on bag behind her. She giggled to herself – if it hadn’t been unladylike she would have run through the lobby!

Up the elevator, where she was reminded once again how much she hated instrumental renditions of the Carpenters, down the hall at a trot, and through the door – to darkness.

“Honey I’m home!” she announced as she reached for the light switch.

“DON’T turn on the lights!” Renfield ordered.

Panic seized her. Not an attack, but sheer terror at the sound of his voice. Even in the darkness she could see him sitting in a chair his silhouette outlined against the city view through the window. She could also see another outline that deepened her terror – a liquor bottle and glass.

She was across the room and on her knees next to him before she even knew she was moving. In the dim glow of the city lights she could see his tortured face,

“Dear God! Renny, what’s happened?” she pleaded and then was struck silent as he looked at her.

“Did you have a nice flight?” he asked, his voice completely devoid of emotion and humanity.

She gently touched his knee. “Renny? Tell me.”

He seemed to respond to her touch, looking at her as if he had just realized she was there.

“Concepción is dead,” he said and again buried his face in his hands.

No one outside the inner circle of the RCMP had ever known the entire story of Turnbull’s undercover work, least of all Kerri, so she had no idea who Concepción was. Rather than ask she just knelt by him, her hand on his knee and waited.

After a while kneeling got to be a little hard on her knees so she started to stand to shift positions. She moved her hand but as she did he grabbed her wrist. Not hard enough to induce pain as he had done when she had startled him awake, but gently as if to say ‘please don’t leave’. She took his hand and held it as she sat on the arm of his chair. She slipped her arm around his shoulders and carefully rested her cheek on his head. They stayed that way for a very long time, Kerri becoming afraid that he might never tell her. But after a while he seemed to relax slightly and respond to her closeness.

“I owe her everything, you know?” he finally whispered. “She saved me, more than once, and ultimately. Toward the end, after I had been discovered and Gallegos’ men were hunting me she hid me in her home. She knew how dangerous it was she’d already lost her husband and one son to them, but she never wavered.” Tears started streaming down his cheeks and Kerri could tell that it wasn’t for the first time this evening.

She wanted so desperately to say something, to offer him some words of comfort but she could think of nothing to say. So she remained silent and let him talk as he saw fit. When his tears subsided he told her a little more.

“It was my mother,” he whispered. “She blew my cover.”

There was another long pause before he began again. “Concepción said I reminded her…of her son who was murdered.”

Kerri began to rub his back, lightly, to try to comfort him. She knew he was thinking about his torture – it made her cry to think of it.

“I left her home after the cartel ransacked it, looking for me. I told her to run! I told her to get OUT! I did.” The tears started again.

“She knew what had happened almost immediately. She tried to help me! She risked everything for me. I wish…”

Kerri took her hand from his back and put her arm around his shoulders again, pulling him to her as gently as she could.

“After…after the whipping they shot me…and…dumped me. But she knew, she found me and stayed with me. It must have been hours…she sat in that garbage and filth and prayed! She tried to stop the bleeding…and prayed. She prayed and prayed. That’s when you came to me. I thought you were an angel.”

Kerri continued to hold him as he gathered the strength to continue.

“They finally found us, the Policia Nacional, and got me to a hospital. I survived solely because of her!” He looked directly at Kerri, the torment and pain written all over his face. “She saved me!” he cried.

She put her hands on either side of his face and tried to wipe his tears with her thumbs.

“She stayed with me every day and night until I was well enough to come back to Ottawa. She saved me and I wasn’t able to help her…”

He started to cry again, but this was different. It was sobbing, full body wracking sobs that shook both of them. She held him as best she could and just let him cry it out, the misery leeching into her body as well. She knew he cried not just for the loss of Concepción but also for the loss of himself.

She stayed with him that way for several hours. He stopped talking after admitting that Concepción had died and he wasn’t able to help her. He cried of and on as memories of his time in Colombia ebbed and flowed over him. Kerri sat by his side alternating between rubbing his back, touching his hair or just holding her arms around his shoulders. Anything to assure him she was right there and would not leave him.

Somewhere in the early hours of the morning she sensed he had cried it out and she whispered to him, “I think we should lie down. You need to rest.” Without acknowledgement or objection from him Kerri took off his shoes and socks and helped him to stand. She helped him out of his jeans and shirt and went to turn down the bed.

Leading him to the bed she finally saw his face. Even in the dim light cast by the lights in the parking lot below she could see the damage that all those tears had caused. But even with swollen eyes and tear stained cheeks it was still the face of the man she loved. And that love had deepened all the more because of the anguish he felt over the death of a woman who had saved him, and who Kerri had never known.

She helped him into bed, wiped his face as best she could and pulled the covers up over him. She was about to tell him how much she loved him, but he wouldn’t have heard her, he was already asleep.

She striped and laid next to him, cuddling up to his back and wrapping her arms around him. They slept that way for the rest of the night.

Kerri was awakened by the sound of the shower running and knew by just that one little act of normalcy that Renfield had survived the night. She sat up in bed and the first thing she saw was the liquor bottle. She jumped up to look and thanked God. He hadn’t even opened it! The glass that sat next to it contained only the water from melted ice cubes, nothing more.

She thanked God again and went to the phone. When room service answered she ordered them two bowls of porridge, some toast and a large pot of tea. She asked them if they could hurry. Her husband had not been well over night and needed to eat as soon as possible. She was thanking them profusely when she heard him turn off the water.

She dressed hurriedly and at the very last moment thought it might be wise to move the whiskey bottle out of sight. She stashed it in a bureau drawer just as Renfield poked his head out of the bathroom door.

When he saw her up and dressed he smiled broadly. In two strides he had her in his arms. “Thank you,” he whispered into her hair. “Thank you,” he said again with a depth of emotion she had never heard before.

She pushed back from him to look closely at this face. His eyes were still a bit swollen and his nose a little red, but otherwise he looked, to her, perfect. “Are you better now?” she whispered, tracing around his eyes with her fingers.

He suddenly looked a little sheepish. “About that, I’m sorry I made such a scene.”

She pulled him to her again. “She meant a lot to you. There’s nothing wrong with shedding tears over the loss of someone who was so important in your life. Thank you for telling me about her.”

He was about to kiss her when there was a knock at the door. “Room service.”

Renfield headed toward the bathroom grabbing his jeans as he went. “You’d better get that since I’m only wearing a towel I’m not exactly dressed for company!”

He heard the waiter come in and then leave. The last thing he wanted to do right now was disappoint Kerri, but the idea of eating a heavy breakfast was anything but appealing.

“I didn’t think you’d feel like eating too much so I ordered us some porridge and tea,” she said while taking off the bowl covers, “I hope that’s okay?”

“Perfect! It’s exactly what I need.”

They sat and ate their breakfast in silence, each lost their own thoughts. He finally looked up with wide eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask before! How was your trip?”

“You did ask me, but I don’t think you’d remember, you were rather upset.” She looked at him. “Don’t.”

“What?”

“You were going to apologize for last night again. Please don’t. The Concepción you told me about was a fine woman who deserves to be mourned. That’s exactly what you did, paid homage to her life and her memory.”

“Well said, thank you.”

When they finished their breakfast Kerri sat the tray in the hallway outside their door.

When she came back in she had something on her phone to show him. “I think you should read this,” she said as she handed him her phone.

He read, “John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” He looked at her and whispered, “I am so glad you’re here.”

“Me too.”

“I forgot! Your surprise! Oh my I was so upset I forgot.”

“Can I have it? Is it here?”

“Not exactly, it’s ah, a little too big to have here.”

“We don’t have to go anywhere if you’re not feeling up to it. I can certainly wait,” she offered.

“Oh yes we can! And oh no you can’t. I can’t wait either!”

He looked so much like an excited little boy she had to hug him. “Renny, are you sure?” she whispered into his hair.

She felt his arms hold her just a little tighter. “I love it when you call me Renny,” he whispered.

She pushed away from him just slightly so that she could see his face. “Really? I thought, well you once told me you thought Renny made you sound like a little boy. I just thought –”

“And I did think that, once, but I was wrong. I love it when you whispered it my ear when we were in bed – it sort of uh,”

“Aroused you?”

“Yes,” he admitted shyly. He pulled her to him again. “You can call me Renny any time you want…but maybe not when we’re in public?”

Kerri smiled deeply. “Can we go get my surprise now?”

He reluctantly released her and prayed that she would be calling him Renny again very soon.

As they drove to the house he began to second guess himself. He also became concerned that just springing this on her might bring on a panic attack. So, just a few blocks from the house he pulled the car to the curb.

“I think it might be best to ah, prepare you for this. I wanted the whole thing to be a surprise but now I’m afraid it might be a little bit too much of a shock for you.”

“Renfield, what –”

“I’ve done some work on your house,” he said softly.

“Okay?”

“A lot of work, actually. It looks completely different.”

Suddenly she was excited. “Did you finish the painting?”

“Ah, yes.”

“OH! Let’s go see!”

“You’re sure?”

“I’ll be fine! I want to see!”

When they turned the corner Kerri looked right passed the pretty yellow and white house, searching for her rundown one. Then she realized. “It’s YELLOW! And it has a picket fence and flowers and no weeds! And a cute arbor and speedwell. Oh my!”

Renfield parked across the street and looked at her. “Are you okay?”

“Oh yes! I want to go see!”

She slowly walked across the street, taking in all that had been done to the rundown old house. To her mind it looked like a picture in a magazine. She walked on, looking at the roses and the trees and the new plantings.

“There’re cosmos planted in these beds and morning glory at the arbor, the roses are ramblers with pink flowers and the tree is a maple and –”

“Renfield, there are some people watching us.”

Renfield looked up and saw Ted and Mary smiling at them through their living room window.

Renfield waved at them as he said, “that’s Ted and Mary. Wave at them, they’re waiting to see if you love it.”

Kerri gave them a slightly self-conscious thumbs up and turned back to wandering around the yard.

“I’ve done some other things too,” he said. “Come see.”

He led her into the house, holding her hand the whole way. She staggered slightly, overwhelmed by what she saw.

“New carpet? And Furniture!” she exclaimed. “Oh, Renny! This is just too much!”

“Have I done more than I should have?”

She turned to him and when she saw the look of disappointment on his face she wanted to cry. “NO! God NO! That’s not what I meant! It’s all so beautiful it’s just overwhelming! That’s what I meant by too much.”

She drew him into her arms. “I love it!”

He grinned at her. “Come see the rest!”

“There’s more?”

He kept grinning as he took her hand a dragged her into the kitchen. Her eye grew huge as she looked first at the freshly painted cabinets and then at – “Is that the same stove? It’s gorgeous! It’s just –” she turned to look at him and started to cry.

“Are you okay?” he asked gently. “Please answer me.”

“Yes I’m just so –”

“Let’s go sit a minute.” He took her hand and led her back into the living room where he sat on the new chair and she on the new couch.

“Why did you do this?”

“Why? Because I needed something to do,” he kidded.

“I’m serious.”

“Because I wanted to take the burden of fixing this house off your shoulders. You’ve been so ill with all the things that you needed to do, I thought this was a way I could help.” Kerri just sat there, not responding, as if she was expecting, hoping for something else.

“Okay, and, and because I wanted you to have, to have a nice place,” he could almost not go on. “I wanted you to have a nice place to live if you decided not to go to Toronto,” he said in a rush.

Kerri got up and walked to the entry to the kitchen. “You must have really enjoyed working on that stove,” she muttered.

“You have no idea!” he said as he came up behind her and threaded his arms around her waist. “Tell me what you’re thinking?”

“I was so overwhelmed, God I hate that word, so overwhelmed with all that was happening, people pulling me in every direction I just thought…” she turned in his arms and laid her head against his shoulder.

“You thought that I was trying to push you into living with me in Toronto? My swooping in to save you, the press, Scott and Malone, then Tom Rigby and then me again telling you how great it would be to both work in Toronto. God! Kerri I am so sorry, no wonder you needed to get the heck out of here!”

“But now I know that I was wrong. You were just giving me space. I’m the one who’s sorry! And thrilled! Will you show me the rest?”

He looked like a little boy watching someone about to open a gift he had given them. Excited to see them excited. He took her hand and led her through the kitchen into the bedroom at the back of the house.

“I moved the twin bed in here and that nightstand, well I got two of them but two wouldn’t fit in your room so I moved that one in here. Do you like the carpet? It doesn’t match exactly with the carpet in the living room, but they didn’t have enough of one to do all three rooms.” He grabbed her hand again and led her to the bathroom. “I didn’t have time or the knowhow to replace the sink or countertop but I really like the flooring. I figured that if you ah, you decided to stay here that you could hire a plumber to replace the sinks in here and in the kitchen.”

Then he took her to her room. A nightstand and queen bed just barely fit in the small space, but she didn’t notice that. All she was thinking was if Renfield would fit in that bed. At 6”3” he was as tall as most beds were long.

Renfield was beginning to become concerned. Kerri wasn’t as enthusiastic as he’d hoped, she hadn’t really said anything since they left the living room. He watched as she turned a circle and took in all that she could from her vantage point.

He watched as she walked through the bedroom and across the living room. He continued to watch as she closed the front door and returned to the bedroom. He watched as she drew the curtains and he watched as she came back to stand in front of him. And he watched as she took his hand and led him to the bed.

She sat down and indicated for him to do the same. “I have something I want to say to you,” she said. “I’ve known almost from the first that I wanted to take the position if Tom Rigby wants me. There’s nothing for me here. What you’ve done with this house is so wonderful I just don’t want you to think I wouldn’t love to live here. I love everything about the changes you’ve made – from the picket fence to the flooring in the bathroom. I love it and I love the thought behind it.”

He started to say something but she took his hand and said, “please let me finish?” She continued to hold his hand. “What you did for me here, not the remodeling, but the sacrifice you are willing to make for me… You were willing to put aside your feelings to make me happy. I should never have doubted that you would be willing to do that for me. I love you Renny more now than ever before. And I want very much to go with you wherever you want to go. If you said you wanted to go back to Fraser Lake and stay in charge I would go there too.”

Still holding his hand she pressed it to her cheek. He freed his hand and moved it to the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to his.

“Do you think you could call me Renny again?” he breathed as he gently pushed her down onto the bed. “Right now?”

Epilogue

That afternoon Renfield and Kerri moved from the hotel where they had taken refuge from an overly intrusive press community and her uncomfortable little house on Cedar Grove Ln. They moved into Renfield’s lovingly remodeled cottage home. Kerry met Ted, Mary and Nick and she did indeed let Renfield take all the boys for rides in the Mustang.

Kerri talked via conference call with her dear friend Walter Scott and Tom Rigby and was formally offered the position as the civilian RCMP Assistant Director of Finance. Walter and Patrick Malone were excited to have both Kerri and Renfield joining their teams to work toward identifying and catching the bad guys from their new offices in Toronto. Walter agreed to give Kerri the same 3 weeks’ time that Patrick had given Renfield in order for her to begin treatment for her panic attacks. At the same time they put the lovely little cottage house on the market. Renfield let Kerri handle the sale of course but insisted on one thing – wherever they went his beauty, the 1949 O’keefe and Merritt range, must go with them. And Kerri wholeheartedly agreed.

While Kerri finalized the plans for selling the house Renfield returned to Fraser Lake. He packed up what little belongings he had and said goodbye to everyone who stopped by. Jimmie Vickers made it a point to cautiously avoid the aliens hunting for him and paid a final visit. Ruth gave him a final hug and Renfield left Constable Meyer in temporary charge while secretly recommending to his superiors that Meyer be placed in the position permanently. His hardest goodbye was to George Inouye. George had been Renfield’s confidant and sounding board for the last year. The man to whom he had turned for support, advice and friendship. In the end it was hard, but not so hard when he learned that George had only recently reluctantly agreed to move in with his daughter to help with his twin grandsons. His daughter lived in Kitchener ON, just a stone’s throw from Toronto.

They left for Toronto about a week after they put the house up for sale. Bidding goodbye to Ted was hard for Renfield but especially hard for Ted. He’d grown very fond of the young Mountie and bid him sad farewell. Renfield left Mary some of his recipes that included mushrooms. Ted didn’t think he liked them, but Renfield told Mary to give them a try and they both might be surprised.

Once in Toronto Kerri sought out a psychologist to begin therapy sessions. But it didn’t take long for them to realize that she had most likely left her panic attacks behind her in Edmonton. It also didn’t take long for them to realize that the attacks had started long before she moved to Edmonton. In fact, with the help of her doctor they thought they might have tracked them back as far as the day she’d found out Renfield had not been killed in Elora Gorge. She knew that she still needed treatment to learn to deal with the melancholy that stress had brought on but was thrilled to think that perhaps the attacks were a thing of the past.

There was a little contention when they went house hunting. Kerri had long since given up her desire to live in a chrome and glass modern high-rise apartment, but she was not quite on board with Renfield’s idea of a fixer upper. In the end they found a 1940s era home, bigger than the one in Edmonton but still a cottage style with what Renfield called potential. It didn’t have too much to do and it had been freshly painted just two years ago, so Kerri loved it – enough projects for the budding DIYer Renfield, but not too many as to overwhelm her. There was just room enough in the kitchen for his gorgeous stove and a garage that was safe enough for her beloved Mustang. It was located in a lovely old Scarborough neighborhood with tree lined streets and lots of walking paths. Renfield even mentioned getting a dog.

Renfield and Kerri did eventually get a dog. A black Labrador puppy they named Dickens the Second, but he was always called Deuce, a Dickensian nod to the devil in him. He earned his nickname every day of his life and just like his older counterpart he loved to chew on a nice leather boot. Fortunately, Renfield’s Strathcona boots were kept safely away from the puppy’s mouth tucked away with his review order uniform in a deep dark closet.

Shortly after they settled into their new home Benton and Margaret paid them a visit. They still were having issues, mostly about who would have the last word on just about everything, but both were trying the best they knew how to work it out. While Renfield and Ben took a look at his latest DIY project Meg took Kerri aside to show her a photo of herself and Ben. Rather than attend that ball with Matteo, Meg had taken Ben as her escort. The picture was of her and Ben, she in the beautiful red ball gown and Ben, well rather than red serge Ben wore a fabulous black tuxedo. Kerri had to admit he looked almost as good in it as he always had in red serge. She also admitted to never having seen Renfield in a tuxedo – she didn’t count the one he wore for their wedding since it really was only a tuxedo in the broadest definition of the word. As far as she was concerned powder blue and 1970 vintage was not worth considering.

Ben told Kerri that Ray was doing okay. He seemed to be spending more and more time at the Consulate, but less and less time with Fraser. He couldn’t prove it, mind you, but he suspected Ray might be taking Maria dancing. Ray would not admit it and Ben did not press the issue, but when he asked Ray that one time Ray about bit his head off. So he was pretty sure that Ray and Maria were seeing each other outside of working hours. Kerri knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Ray and Maria had become friends, but friends with benefits was open to conjecture and a story best left for another day.

And they all lived happily ever after? Well, that is also a story best left to another day.


End file.
